A businessman shot while a police officer stood just 50 metres away was the 10th victim of a sniper who has been stalking the Washington area, police confirmed today.

HIGH-OCTANE fear stalked the Washington area in the US yesterday after a man was shot dead at a Fredericksburg petrol station just 30 miles from where a sniper claimed his seventh victim on Wednesday night.

A man was shot at a petrol station today, and police searching for a sniper closed down a nearby motorway after reports a white van had been seen in the area.

Reports in the US now say a person shot at a petrol station has been killed.

The governor of Virginia said one person was seriously injured in the shooting at an Exxon petrol station in Fredericksburg.

The death toll from the Washington sniper rose to seven as ballistics evidence linked the killer to a man gunned down at a Virginia petrol station.

Parents in the suburbs around Washington anguished over their children’s safety today after a sniper, who murdered six adults last week, critically wounded a schoolboy.

Police in Washington DC are working on a detailed profile of a suspected sniper believed to have gunned down six people in the city suburbs.

Blinding snow has been blamed for a 116-vehicle pile up just outside Washington DC.