Police arrest sniper suspect

Police hunting the Washington serial sniper today arrested a man driving a white van in Virginia, according to reports.

Up to 30 police cars surrounded the vehicle at a petrol station in Richmond, Virginia.

Police said it was a “suspect vehicle“. A white van was seen at the scene of several of the shootings that have terrorised the Washington DC area.

The white Astra van was parked next to a phone booth.

Police chief Charles Moose yesterday urged the sniper to contact police after he apparently left a message at the scene of his last attack.

“You gave us a telephone number. We want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided,” he said.

Richmond is about 15 miles south of the shooting on Saturday night, which was believed to be the serial sniper’s 12th attack.

Police said it was a white Plymouth Voyager van, not an Astra van. Witnesses said it had temporary registration plates.

The driver had pulled up next to the phone booth and left the engine running when around 30 officers, many in plain clothes, swooped on him, a witness told CNN.

Nine people have been killed and at least two wounded in the sniper attacks that started in the Washington metropolitan area on October 2.

A 37-year-old man remains in a critical condition after being shot in the suspected sniper attack outside a restaurant in Ashland, Virginia, about 90 miles south of Washington.

Mr Moose did not comment on the arrest at a short press briefing.

Instead he read out a statement indicating that the person who left the letter at the scene of Saturday’s shooting had responded to last night’s appeal to get in contact with the authorities.

“We are going to respond to a message that we have received,” said Mr Moose.

“We will respond later. We are preparing our response at this time.”

He did not take any questions or give any further explanations.

A second man was arrested in connection with the operation, CNN reported.

Both men were being held in Henrico County jail in Virginia.

Don Neilson, a car salesman who works near the petrol station where the first arrest took place, described the police operation.

“It was overwhelming. A group of policemen in bullet-proof vests put their rifles to their shoulders and kept them pointed at the van as they slowly approached from the back.

“Two of them kept their rifles up while another two slid open the door after banging on it. They pulled a single man out on to the floor. It was very forceful.”

Another witness, Keith Underwood, who also works nearby said the arrested man looked Hispanic.

Forensic experts towed away the van while another team scoured the petrol station.