The Psycho Sniper has revealed the depths of his sick mind in a chilling threat to the police:
“You’re children are not safe anywhere, at any time.”
The brutal sentence was scrawled as a postscript at the end of the three-page handwritten message left by the sniper Saturday night.
Police Chief Charles Moose of Montgomery County, Md., revealed the words yesterday – after another life, the 10th in three weeks, was lost in a sniper attack in the Washington, D.C., area.
Later, at a 7:20 p.m. briefing, Moose had a message for the sniper about his demand for $10 million – apparently made in a communication during the day.
“We have researched the options you stated and found that it is not possible electronically to comply in the manner that you requested,” he said
“However, we remain open and ready to talk to you about the options you have mentioned.”
He said the sniper is seeking an 800 number to talk with authorities and offered to set up a private post-office box “or another secure method.”
“You indicated that this is about more than violence,” Moose said. “We are waiting to hear from you.”
Moose, at the earlier briefing, disclosed the sniper’s chilling postscript amid news reports that the letter he left Saturday night – following an attack in the parking lot of a Ponderosa steak house in Ashland, Va. – included specific threats against children.
School officials in and around Ashland, a Richmond suburb, canceled classes out of concern for their kids. And parents and officials in other communities where the sniper has gunned down victims were enraged, demanding to know if indeed there had been such a threat, if indeed their kids were at risk.
Earlier in the day, Moose refused to discuss the letter, saying that “all people should be under heightened alert.”
He said the killer or killers “have shown a clear willingness and ability to kill people of all ages, all races, all genders, all professions, at different times, different days and at different locations.”
But a few hours later, he bowed to mounting public pressure and gave up the killer’s words.
He also disclosed that there had been another communication from the sniper – but he wouldn’t say whether it had been left near the latest killing ground or delivered to police over the phone.
Moose used the afternoon press briefing to tell the killer: “We will be responding soon” – and then came back in the evening with the second message about the electronic money transfer.
The latest attack took place on the sniper’s original stalking ground – Montgomery County, Md., where the first shot in the three-week murder spree crashed through the plate-glass window of a Michael’s craft store on Oct. 2, and five lives were taken during the next frenzied 28 hours.
The victim, bus driver Conrad Johnson, was shot in the upper stomach at 6 a.m. as he stood on the steps of his idling bus in a residential section of Aspen Hill shortly before beginning his route.
The shot was fired from woods across the street.
Ballistic tests are expected to confirm the Psycho Sniper was responsible.
Police sources said they believe the sniper felt compelled to go after the 13th victim either because cops had failed to meet a deadline to comply with demands in his Saturday letter or because of the highly publicized ambush set up to nab him in Richmond, Va., on Monday.
They also feel he intentionally targeted a Montgomery County employee to show anger at the way attempts to open up a dialogue with him had faltered – with cops saying a telephone communication from him was inaudible.
One of his demands, it was learned yesterday, is for $10 million to stop the killings.
Police sources also noted that the killer is very likely familiar with the Aspen Hill area where Johnson was killed because he knew the bus and driver would be there at 6 a.m.
“He’s back in his comfort zone,” said one cop, adding that if the sniper doesn’t live in the area, he has intimate knowledge of it.
Investigators added they no longer believe the sniper speeds away on a nearby highway after each hit.
They said he may just go a few miles away, where he calmly pulls over to take a nap in his car or has a snack in a fast-food restaurant.
This new view is based on the phone call the sniper made to the task-force tip line after his Saturday night attack. The call was made from a pay phone at a gas station just a short distance from the Ponderosa restaurant.
Johnson, the latest sniper victim, worked for the county bus service for 10 years.
At the time of the shooting, he was driving one of the small buses for its Ride On program, which shuttles commuters back and forth from Metro stations.
Fellow bus driver Wade Vassell was shaken by the attack and said, “I’m nervous, real nervous.”
Johnson, who was affectionately known as C.J., was frequently seen trotting off to work at dawn from his Oxon Hill, Md., townhouse and then returning later in the day to toss a football around with his two sons, Dante, 15, and Devon, 8.
“He was a real family man. He loved his boys,” neighbor Steve Addison said. “He was always taking care of them, doing things for them.