Killer leaves chilling message
The chilling message "Dear policeman, I am God" written on a Tarot card was left for police near the scene of the latest in a series of sniper shootings.
The mocking note was written on the Death card from the pack of fortune telling cards, police sources confirmed.
The killer, dubbed The Washington Sniper, has shot eight people since last Wednesday, killing six.
One death occurred on a Washington street the others came within five miles of each other in Maryland's Montgomery County.
Authorities searched a wooded area behind a school after reports of a man seen carrying a long black bag.
A woman driving in the area was detained for questioning. "We don't know whether or not she was the person who dropped the subject off but we are talking to her trying to find out why she was here," a police spokeswoman said.
Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who has been leading the investigation, refused to comment on the Tarot card, and said he was angry the information was leaked.
"I need to make sure I don't do anything to hinder our ability to bring this person or these people into custody."
The note was found beside a spent shell casing in woods near the school where a 13-year-old boy was shot and critically wounded by the sniper on Monday.
Police sources said the area was about 150 yards from where the boy was shot, and that the grass was matted as if the gunman had lain in wait.
The fact that the boy was shot from that distance has led police to speculate that they may be dealing with a former military marksman.
The note was the first known communication from the sniper, they said.
Prince George's County police said they were not commenting on any potential evidence that may have been found.
But even as they discarded one lead a man was released after police questioned him about at least one rifle in his home investigators wondered whether the sniper might have struck weeks earlier.
On September 14, an off-licence employee in Montgomery County was wounded by an unknown assailant.
Bullet fragments recovered from the clerk have been examined, but the analysis has proved inconclusive.
Playgrounds and parks were empty, shoppers darted across car parks and shaken parents took children to and from school as fear gripped the region.
"Usually I'm embarrassed to walk around and hold my mum's hand, but I don't care today," said Amanda Wiedmaier, 13.
Security firms across the region have reported a surge in inquiries. About 50 Starbucks coffee shops removed their outside seats. Mental health counsellors have set up crisis phone lines for people distressed by the shootings.
With few solid clues or witness accounts, a task force of federal, state and local investigators is sifting through more than 7,500 phoned-in tips. Police said they have 1,400 credible leads but refused to give details.
The sniper has shot eight people altogether in the past week, including one woman wounded 50 miles away in Virginia.
Police believe the sniper is picking victims at random and firing from a distance with a high powered hunting or military-style rifle. All the victims were hit by a single bullet.
Ballistics tests found that the bullet that struck the boy on Monday was identical to those that killed some of the others and wounded a woman in Virginia. That woman has been released from the hospital.
The FBI has set up command posts in Montgomery County and provided helicopter, field office, lab and computer support.
The reward posted for helping catch the sniper has increased steadily to 240,000.
