The latest victim of the shootings was gunned down yards away from police

WASHINGTON D.C., Oct 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Police widened their dragnet for a brazen serial sniper who has killed seven and wounded two, after yet another victim was fatally shot Friday just yards from where a state trooper stood across the road.

Investigators said Friday that a positive link had not yet been established between the 9:40 am (1340 GMT) fatal shooting of Kenneth Bridges of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at a gas station in this town 50 miles south of Washington and the nine earlier shootings in Washington DC and the surrounding area.

However, Major Harold Smith, a sheriff's deputy in Spotsylvania County, where the latest shooting occurred, said: "Any time we get a shooting now we are going to assume it's linked to these others until it's proven differently."

He said forensic evidence found at the scene was being analyzed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and that local, state and federal investigators were trying to link the latest killing with other shootings.

Numerous federal agencies, including the Secret Service, have joined the manhunt, and the White House said President George W. Bush was getting updates from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in his daily briefing.

"The president wants to make certain the federal government is doing all it can," White House spokesman Fleischer said. "This is an important issue."

Police have said evidence from ballistics tests and autopsies positively tied the first nine shootings, which began the night of October 2, to the same weapon: a 5.56-millimeter assault-type rifle.

The victims included four people shot dead as they were filling up at self-service gas stations, which require the driver to get out of the vehicle.

"We are working on a mathematical formula to see when he will try to strike," said a Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman who declined to be named. "We are trying to find a sense of logic."

Smith said the latest attack fit the pattern of the sniper attacks, but with a bizarre new twist.

A Virginia state trooper was directly across the street from the filling station working a routine accident scene when he heard the shot and rushed to the wounded man, who died at a local hospital.

Police said witness accounts indicated the sniper may have fired from a white Chevrolet Astrovan with a ladder mounted on its roof, a vehicle seen driving from the scene shortly after the shot rang out.

It has also been reported that a similar white vehicle was seen at the scene of two other related shootings.

They said the accounts suggested the shot went over the trooper's head, hitting Bridges as he filled the tank of his late model Buick sedan. Police quoted witnesses as saying they saw two people in the white van. A white van also has been seen near the scene of other of the shootings.

Virginia State Police cars quickly fanned out along Interstate 95, the nearby north-south artery, stopping dozens of vehicles meeting the description and causing monstrous traffic jams.

Smith said that with a police officer virtually on the scene at the time of the shooting, it was evident that the killer was "extremely violent and obviously doesn't care."

The sniper appeared to have taunted police before with a message left at the scene of a shooting Monday. Scribbled on the "Death card" of a Tarot deck, it read: "Dear Policeman, I am God."

A shell casing was also found on the grass at that scene, where the sniper shot a 13-year-old boy as he was being dropped off at school. The teen remains in critical condition in a Washington hospital.

"This was a personal message to us, and the intention of the [sniper] was to develop a relationship with us,” said one detective of the Tarot card, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It has been reported that the sniper gave specific directions for the police not to reveal the existence of the message to the press, with one New York -based radio news agency alluding that several casualties could have been avoided had the message remained under wraps.

Police in the affluent suburbs of Maryland north of Washington, where the shooting spree began last week with five killings in 16 hours, said the FBI would soon release a "graphic aid" on the sniper case, without elaborating.

Schools near the shooting sites have cancelled outdoor sports activities and kept students indoors. Many of the area's shops and restaurants have reported slower business as residents limited their outdoor time.

All of the victims were carrying out everyday activities in the Washington area, shopping or putting gas in their cars, when they were shot.

Five people were killed within a 16-hour period from late October 2 to October 3 in Montgomery County, which borders Washington. A sixth person was shot in the chest and killed late October 3 while standing on a Washington street corner close to the Maryland border.

On October 4, a woman was shot in the back in the parking lot of a shopping mall in nearby Fredericksburg, Virginia, but survived.

The 13-year-old boy was shot in Bowie, Maryland, while a 53-year-old man was shot and killed late Wednesday while getting gas in Manassas, Virginia.

The reward for information leading to the killer's capture and conviction has soared to more than $350,000.

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