Five shot dead in Washington suburb in apparent killing spree

FIVE people were fatally shot one by one in public places within 16 hours of each other in Washington’s suburbs, and authorities said Thursday there was a strong possibility the killings were related.

One victim was shot to death while riding a lawnmower, another while cleaning her car at a petrol station. None appeared to have been robbed, and authorities didn’t suspect terrorism, Montgomery County police said.

Investigators had not found any indication that the five victims, killed between 6pm on Wednesday and 10am on Thursday, were related or had any conflict with anyone.

Still, given the timing and location, “there’s a strong possibility that they are all connected”, police spokeswoman Joyce Utter said.

Police were looking for two people in a white cargo van, possibly with damage at the back. Several witnesses told police they saw such a vehicle leaving some of the shooting scenes.

The first slaying happened shortly after 6pm on Wednesday when a 55-year-old man was shot in the parking lot of a Wheaton grocery store.

The man on the lawnmower was killed about 7.45am on Thursday in the White Flint area, and another man, a cab driver, was shot around 8.15am while pumping petrol at a Mobil station in the Aspen Hill area. He died at the scene.

About half-an-hour later a woman died at a post office next to the Leisure World retirement centre in Silver Spring. Dolores Wallgren who was going to a beauty shop near the post office said she saw the victim slumped over a bench bleeding from the head.

Another woman was then shot at about 10am at a Shell gas station in Kensington. Mechanics at the gas station said they heard the shots but didn’t see the person or persons who killed the woman.

In each case, the victim was felled by a single shot, police said, but it was unclear whether the shots were fired from a vehicle or at what range. Ballistics tests to determine if the same gun was used were pending, investigators said.

As a precaution, Montgomery Co schools cancelled all outdoor activities and locked down school buildings.