Man shot, killed at D.C.-area gas station

Thursday, October 10th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MANASSAS, Virginia (CNN) -- Authorities are investigating whether a fatal shooting Wednesday night at a gas station near Washington is connected to sniper shootings in the area that have claimed six lives.

The victim was identified as Dean Harold Meyers, 53, of Gaithersburg, Maryland. Authorities said he was shot once in the head. All the sniper victims so far have been hit with a single shot.

He was slain at 8:15 p.m. ET after he had finished pumping gas. Surveillance video showed him slumped between a gas pump and his car.

Police are looking for a white Dodge Caravan that was spotted leaving the scene. A similar vehicle was mentioned by witnesses at one of the earlier shootings.

"At this point we cannot say if this case is related to those other shootings," Prince William County Police Chief Charlie Deane said early Thursday.

"The victim was by himself," Deane said. "He's not a local person."

Jeff Hintosh, a 19-year-old waiter at a nearby Shoney's, said he and his co-workers heard a single shot and did not see a fleeing vehicle.

Police were looking for an "Asian male" driving a black Honda who was pumping gas near the time of the shooting. Prince William County police spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Chinn called him a witness and made a public appeal for him to contact police.

Chinn asked witnesses to the shooting to call police at (703) 792-6500 or Crime Solvers at (800) 673-2777.

The Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Department, which is leading the sniper investigation, sent a team of investigators to the scene.

Manassas is a suburb of about 35,000 people, southwest of the nation's capital.

Shooting evidence analyzed
Wednesday night's killing came exactly one week after the first shooting was reported in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Five people were killed in Montgomery County during a 16-hour period from October 2 into the next morning. A sixth victim was shot dead the night of October 3 on a Washington street.

Two of the Maryland victims were killed at gas stations.

A woman was wounded Friday in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She was released from a hospital Tuesday.

In the most recent shooting that has been conclusively linked to the sniper, a 13-year-old boy was shot Monday at a middle school in Bowie, Maryland. He remains in critical but stable condition at a Washington hospital.

Forensics evidence, including ballistics tests on the bullets, have linked the eight shootings. Authorities said each victim was hit once with a .223-caliber bullet fired from a rifle from a relatively long distance.

Law enforcement sources said Wednesday investigators had found new evidence near the middle school, including a shell casing and a tarot card inscribed with the message, "Dear Policeman: I am God."

The evidence was taken to an FBI lab for fingerprint and DNA tests as well as analyses of the handwriting, spelling and the card's origins. Authorities were trying to determine whether the shell casing can help them determine the type of weapon used in the shooting. (Tracing the bullets)

Sources said it was unclear whether the tarot card was related to the shootings.

The card was the one depicting death in the fortune-telling deck. The death card, which often shows a skeletal figure on a horse, represents endings, transitions, eliminations and the experiencing of inexorable forces.

Authorities said the card could have been left by a prankster.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said Wednesday he was upset about the leak of the tarot card information to reporters.

"It is inappropriate to comment on this card," he said. "There are a lot of things that have the potential to hurt the investigation."

Moose also criticized statements from retired law enforcement personnel who are news analysts for TV networks and stations. Moose said it was insulting to hear commentary from "talking heads" who have not been briefed, seen evidence or talked to investigators.

Investigators were sifting through 1,700 tips and leads deemed credible.

Authorities said they hope a growing reward fund may help persuade anyone who knows anything about the killings to come forward.

The reward is now nearly $305,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person responsible for the killings. The fund includes $100,000 from the state of Maryland, $50,000 from Montgomery County and $10,000 from a victims' rights foundation. Donations to the fund have come in from 20 states.

Investigators were reconsidering a September 14 shooting outside a Silver Spring, Maryland, liquor store, trying to determine whether the same culprit might be responsible.

A man was wounded there but survived. Michael Bouchard, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said the ballistics evidence from the crime scene was inconclusive.

Authorities also were looking into a fire at a Michaels crafts store near the middle school in Bowie. The crafts store burned down, and the case remains open. Several of the shootings have taken place near Michaels crafts stores.