Hoax Call In Sniper Case

Police in Stafford, Va., say a fast food restaurant manager was arrested Sunday on a charge of falsely reporting a rooftop sniper in an attempt to get a day off from work.

Stafford County Sheriff Charles Jett says authorities closed a mile-long stretch of highway and evacuated at least five businesses in response to the 911 call.

Jett says deputies traced the call to Richard L. Jones, 25, manager of the Burger King in the plaza where the gunman was reported.

The sheriff said Jones told authorities he made the call because he was living out of his car and wanted the day off to find a place to live.

Stafford is between Manassas and Fredericksburg, two communities that in the past four days have recorded killings linked the suburban Washington, D.C., serial sniper.

A gunman has shot at 10 people, killing eight, in suburban Washington since Oct. 2.

Jones was charged under a new state law aimed at stopping terrorism hoaxes. The statute makes it a felony to falsely report a possible terrorist act with the intent to "intimidate or panic the civil population or compel evacuation," Jett said.

Deputies also charged Jones with filing a false police report and obstruction of justice.

Jones is being held without bail. A court date has not yet been scheduled.

Profilers meanwhile are wondering if the sniper's weekend inactivity means that he might have something else keeping him busy Saturdays and Sundays.

"He's a weekday warrior. Even snipers have jobs," suggests criminologist Jack Fox of Northeastern University in Boston. "They have to make time to kill, and obviously he doesn't have time on the weekends."

"Everything that helps a little helps a lot in terms of finding someone," says Fox.

Other criminologists have suggested the shooter lives in the area and may have a job and work schedule that accounts for the timing and location of the attacks.

Investigators hunting the increasingly brazen killer have logged some consistencies: the killer favors suburban gas stations; fires a single round; has not let two days pass without opening fire again and, judging from a tarot card left at one of the shootings, appears to enjoy taunting police.

Newsweek is reporting that a piece of legal paper was found near the scene of Friday's shooting - with driving directions from northern Maryland to the Washington Beltway.

The magazine is also reporting that the FBI has asked the Defense Department to search records from the Ft. Bragg sniper school, to check for rejected applicants and any former students with psychological problems.

Authorities are not commenting on those reports, and are revealing very little of the details of the investigation, so as to keep the killer in the dark on any progress in the case.

"We don't want to release anything that may cause ... anyone to think they're a suspect," said Mike Bouchard, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Montgomery County police Chief Charles Moose, meanwhile, has cut back on his news briefings while saying he wishes there was more he could reveal.

"I wish we could give you a name, a mug shot and an address but we're not at that point," he said in one of four appearances he made Sunday on national TV talk shows.

Moose has become the public face of a massive task force investigating a random shooter who has fired a single shot into each of 10 victims, killing eight, since Oct. 2.

On Oct. 7, after a weekend without striking, the killer opened fire just after 8 a.m., seriously wounding a 13-year-old boy.

"Frustration comes from not knowing where he'll strike next," said Montgomery County police officer Derek J. Baliles.

The last killing occurred Friday morning, when a 53-year-old father of six was shot while fueling his sedan in a gas station just south of Fredericksburg, Va. At the time, a state trooper stood just 50 yards away, investigating a traffic accident.

Authorities described the serial sniper as not just a local threat, but an attempt to terrorize already anxious Americans.

"This reminds us that people in our past have tried to intimidate and put fear into Americans," Moose said. "This a strong nation ... and we will not be intimidated."

In Landover, Md., police on horseback and bicycles ringed parking areas before Sunday's Washington Redskins football game against the New Orleans Saints. Fans grilling burgers at tailgate parties said they appreciated being encircled by patrol cars and rifle-toting officers.

"I don't think anybody in their right mind would try something out here," said Bill Freitag of Virginia Beach, Va., a die-hard Redskins fan. "But he's not in his right mind to begin with."

The victims, in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., were shot as they carried out daily errands. Four were killed at service stations.

A white truck matching composite images compiled by the FBI was still being sought. And as Sunday wore on without another shooting, a reporter asked Moose if he dreaded Monday morning.

"We won't make any assumptions about any kind of pattern," Moose said. "I never approach Monday morning with a sense of dread."