Police said last night that fragments of the bullet that struck Dean H. Meyers at 8:18 p.m., just after he had unscrewed the cap from his Mazda’s gas tank, linked the killing to the gunman who has killed six other people and seriously wounded two in the greater- Washington area in the past eight days.
Meyers, 53, was refueling at a Sunoco station a quarter-mile off Interstate 66 on his way home from his Manassas engineering job to the Gaithersburg townhouse where he had lived alone for at least 17 years.
Police initially reported that a witness had seen a white minivan leaving the area — a tip that was reminiscent of a sighting of a small white truck at the scene of a killing last Thursday. But last night, Prince William County police Chief Charlie Deane discounted the sighting, saying that the driver of the van had come forward and “explained away” his or her presence at the station.
This again left police scouring for clues to the identity of a gunman who has managed to strike 10 times with at most one sighting of his vehicle in flight.
“It’s a whodunit at this point,” said Deane. “For the region, it’s a very frightening case.”
Last night, Montgomery County police rushed to the scene of yet another fatal shooting, in the 3600 block of Pear Tree Court in Aspen Hill, near where two of the sniper attacks occurred. However, police said last night’s killing outside an apartment building appeared to stem from an argument and was unrelated to the sniper attacks.
Meyers was the first person to be killed by the gunman in six days; the previous two victims, a woman in Fredericksburg and an eighth-grader in Bowie, survived with serious injuries.
The attack bore most of the marks of what is emerging as the sniper’s signature: It was at a gas station, like two previous killings; was carried out from a distance with a single shot, like all of the shootings; and was near a major highway.
Unlike most of the victims, though, Meyers was shot in the head rather than the torso. This led some experts to speculate that the sniper was frustrated with his failure to kill the two previous victims and annoyed by target shooters’ comments to the news media that his preference to shoot at the body signaled that he was not necessarily a top-rank marksman.
“He didn’t kill the child, you see, and that was a torso shot,” said Maurice Godwin, a criminal investigative psychologist at Methodist College in North Carolina. “With a head shot, the man is definitely dead, and that is probably why he did it.”
Meyers was the first victim to be killed in Virginia, which could have implications should the gunman be caught. Maryland has a moratorium on the death penalty, while Virginia has historically been more willing to carry out capital punishment.
Paul Ebert, Prince William County’s top prosecutor, said he probably would seek the death penalty in Meyers’ slaying, adding that it could be classified as a terrorist act under Virginia law.
With the Manassas slaying, the shots fired by the sniper now number in double digits. In addition to the nine people hit, police say there was a shot through the window of a Michaels crafts shop in Aspen Hill on Oct. 2.
Meanwhile, the clues — at least those the police are willing to discuss publicly, or those they believe will aid the public in possible detection — number only half that.
The few potentially helpful details that exist have become the object of so much public speculation that they have taken on a tantalizing aura all their own:
On Wednesday, police had expressed frustration about the disclosing of the tarot card, saying they had seen it as a sign that the gunman might want to establish private communications with them. Yesterday, Montgomery County Chief Charles Moose dismissed the theory that police, through their briefings aired on television, were attempting to deliver subtle messages to the killer.
“We hold these briefings to update people about evolving situations and answer questions from the news media,” he said.
Authorities placed hope in the more than 1,800 “credible” leads they say have been called in to hot lines. A new hot line, staffed by the FBI, was established yesterday: (888) 324-9800.
“Just the fact that we’ve got more information to work with, it means we’re making progress and getting closer,” said Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan.
Meyers was the second person to be killed outside Maryland, but he, too, hailed from Montgomery County, like five of the six others slain. He lived in a 30-year-old development called Diamond Farm, in a brick townhouse overlooking a playground.
Neighbors described Meyers as a private man who left home early for work but who nonetheless was quick to help out with chores or chat about shared hobbies such as running or gardening.
Carol Iverson, who lived a few houses down from Meyers before her recent move to a retirement community, had dinner with him several weeks ago.
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“He was the best neighbor you could ask for, an outgoing gentleman and a very fine man,” she said. “He was intellectually curious. When my husband was alive, he’d come over for dinner, and it seemed like we never got through an evening without referring to the World Book [encyclopedia] at least once to check on something.”
Neighbor Tony Rosario said Meyers had a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that he would ride around on weekends. Neighbors said they didn’t think that Meyers, who was from Pennsylvania, had any children.
“We didn’t say a whole lot to each other; we just looked out for each other. You don’t have to talk much to be a good neighbor,” said Clara Johnson. “I’m just speechless — such good people, innocent people, [killed] for no reason.”
The killing in Manassas, 30 miles west of Washington, colored another corner of the capital region with deep anxiety. Like their counterparts to the east, Manassas residents found themselves living in fear yesterday — flinching at the sight of white vans, looking out for suspicious characters and thinking twice before stopping for gas.
Mark James, 24, the manager of a chain of Burger Kings, said he was forced to take over as breakfast manager yesterday because so many people stayed home in fear: “The breakfast manager said she doesn’t know if she is ever coming back.”
One man said he circled a gas station three times before summoning up the courage to fill his tank; a woman said she is going to fill her tank only after it “reaches empty.”
Dorothy Ramirez, 37, no longer fills up at stations near interstates; Collete McFadden, 35, deliberately stopped for gas near the Manassas Sunoco, figuring that the sniper would not strike again in the same area.
And as he filled his pickup, Cleveland Jenkins III, 30, left its door open and stood behind a pump, to give a sniper a tougher shot.
Former FBI sniper trainer Don Bassett recommended just such measures for “staying alive” in a bulletin released yesterday by the Associated Press — yet another sign of the mounting anxiety.
“In open areas, keep moving. When walking, move quickly in a zigzag pattern,” Bassett recommended. “If fired upon, drop to the ground and roll. If protective cover is available, move there and stay low.”
<!– ART CREDITASSOCIATED PRESS
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTPolice hunt clues yesterday near the Sunoco station off Interstate 66 where Dean H. Meyers of Gaithersburg was killed Wednesday night as he stopped for gas on his way home from Manassas, Va.
CUTLINE TEXT–> <!– ART CREDITLLOYD FOX : SUN STAFF PHOTOS
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTPrince William County police work at the Sunoco station in Manassas, Va., where a sniper shot Dean H. Meyers on Wednesday night. In the wake of three such shootings, many area residents say they are afraid to stop for gas.
CUTLINE TEXT–> <!– ART CREDIT
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTMontgomery police Chief Charles Moose denies that po lice are trying to deliver subtle messages to the killer via TV.
CUTLINE TEXT–> <!– ART CREDIT
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTDean H. Meyers, 53, lived in this brick townhouse in Diamond Farm in Gaithersburg. "He was the best neighbor you could ask for, an outgoing gentleman and a very fine man," one woman said.
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