Fears of second sniper in US after weapon’s match

THE United States may be dealing with another sniper on the loose after police confirmed three shooting victims at convenience stores in West Virginia were killed by the same weapon.

The victims all shot in the head or neck last week were killed by a .22 calibre rifle, Charleston Police Chief Jerry Pauley said yesterday.

"Now that we know it came from the same weapon, we've got a direction to go in," Pauley said.

Gary Carrier Jr, 44, was killed while making a phone call on August 10 outside a shop in Charleston.

Four days later, Jeanie Patton, 31, and Okey Meadows Jr, 26, both from Campbells Creek, were killed within 90 minutes of each other at rural shops about 10 miles apart on the US 60 highway.

Sheriff's officials had said earlier that the killings of Mr Meadows and Ms Patton appeared to be drug-related. However, yesterday they refused to rule out the prospect that the three murders are the work of a random sniper.

Witnesses told police they saw a large white man in a dark-coloured, two-tone Ford F-150 extended cab pickup the night two of the killings occurred.

A composite sketch was released yesterday of a man with dark hair short in front, longer in back long sideburns and a goatee.

Late on Wednesday, a 16-year-old girl told police she heard a bullet whizz past her head at a petrol station outside Charleston.

A Kanawha County sheriff's deputy later spotted a pickup truck speeding down a nearby highway and gave chase but lost sight of the vehicle.

Police said later that they were unable to find evidence of any shot being fired at the girl.

The shootings reminded many of a series of sniper attacks that terrorised Virginia, Maryland and the Washington DC, area last year. Many were single shots from far distances that felled people as they stopped at petrol stations.

A man and a minor were arrested and accused of a total of 20 shootings, including 13 killings, around the country. Carrier's death and the unrelated fatal shootings of two men in a parked Cadillac, also in the middle of this month, have disquieted the quiet neighbourhood across from the Go-Mart.

However, Mike Bailey of Sharon pumped petrol into his pickup truck at the Go-Mart at sundown and was unfazed by word that the slayings were linked.

"It doesn't really bother me," Bailey said. "If your ticket's going to get punched, it's going to get punched, so why worry about it?"

Brooks fears a suspect isn't close to being caught.

"They're talking about the car that he drives. He's probably switched up now. He's no dummy. He watches the news too. It's everywhere, on every channel," he said.