Police question sniper suspects

Police hunting the Washington serial sniper were tonight questioning two men in connection with the attacks.

Armed police swooped on a 24-year-old of Mexican origin in a white van parked beside a pay phone at a petrol station in Richmond, Virginia, about 100 miles south of the US capital.

The second man was picked up nearby shortly afterwards, police said.

Sheriff Stuart Cook, from the Hanover County Police, said: “The two people who we have in custody are being questioned in regards to the sniper shootings.”

He said they had not been charged.

The arrests came as ballistics tests confirmed that a man seriously wounded in a shooting in Ashland, Virginia, on Saturday night was the sniper’s 12th victim.

Police issued an appeal for the attacker to make contact with them after he left a letter for investigators at the scene of the crime.

A few minutes after the first man was detained today, officials leading the investigation announced that they had received a message.

“We are going to respond to a message that we have received,” said Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose.

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

Mr Moose did not make any further comments, take any questions or explain his statement.