Shooting probed for sniper links

ASHLAND, Va. -- A 37-year-old man was shot and wounded in a steakhouse parking lot Saturday night and authorities were investigating whether the sniper had struck again, for the first time on a weekend.

The victim of the shooting outside a Ponderosa restaurant was rushed to a hospital and undergoing surgery, authorities said.

State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said portions of Interstate 95 were immediately shut down as police set up road blocks. She said it was too early to tell if the shooting was related to the Washington-area sniper.

Maryland State Police Sgt. William Vogt said troopers were on the lookout for a white van with a ladder rack. A sniper task force was on its way to the scene, said Montgomery County police Capt. Nancy Demme.

If the shooting turns out to be related, it would be the first time the sniper attacked on a weekend; it also would follow the longest lull in between shootings as the break in the spree had stretched into a fifth day.

It would also be the 12th sniper shooting since they began Oct. 2; nine of the victims were killed. Before Monday's killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin at a Fairfax County Home Depot store, the longest gap between shootings was three days.

Ashland police chief Frederic Pleasants Jr. said the victim and a female companion were walking to a car in the parking lot behind the restaurant about 8 p.m. when the victim was shot in the abdomen. The companion saw nothing, and authorities say at this point they have no other witnesses.

Pleasants said the man was a traveler, but did not say where he is from.

Geller said the victim was taken to MCV Hospital in Richmond. She said she did not know the man's condition.

Ashland is about 90 miles south of Washington and about 35 miles south of Fredericksburg, where two previous shootings this month were linked to the sniper.

Lt. Doug Goodman, spokesman for the Hanover County sheriff's office, said authorities cordoned off the interstate and the parallel highway. Traffic was backed up for miles, Goodman said.

He said they don't have any physical evidence yet to connect this to the other sniper shootings.

"We are not taking any chances. We are deploying our resources as if it's connected. Better safe than sorry."

Raymond Loving, who owns a Texaco gas station about 50 yards from the steakhouse, told CNN a woman came into his gas station and said someone had been shot in the parking lot.

"She didn't see anything. She just heard a loud boom," Loving said.

Earlier Saturday, authorities tested a shell casing found in a white rental truck for links to the sniper attacks.Police said it would be at least Monday before they could announce whether the shell casing found in the truck -- a vehicle similar to one police have profiled in the ambush killings -- is connected to the shootings.

The shell casing was found in a car seized at a rental agency near Dulles International Airport in Virginia, authorities said.

Meanwhile, high schools staged football games at secret locations so players could compete without fearing for their lives.

Jon DeNunzio, high school sports editor for The Washington Post, said some northern Virginia schools would tell his staff where games were being played only if the paper promised not to publish the sites. Washington schools refused to give notice, telling reporters when to show up at the schools so they could follow buses.

Fort Belvoir, an Army post south of Washington, offered the security of a military base for a football marathon for youth players from northern Virginia -- 111 games Saturday and Sunday, moved from other locations for safety.

Games were played on nine fields hastily assembled from the base parade field and athletic fields by instructors from the base mapping school who surveyed the fields to set up the corners, and volunteers who laid out sidelines, end zones and yard lines.

Two of the sniper's victims were buried Saturday.

More than 400 people turned out at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Washington to remember Pascal Charlot, 72, a carpenter who moved from Haiti to Washington in 1964. He was gunned down Oct. 3 while standing on a street corner.

"He always found humor in every situation. No matter how bad things were, he would try to cheer you up," said Danielle Charlot, his niece. "How could someone take that away from this family?"

Near Pottstown, Pa., more than 100 people filled Christ Evangelical Congregational Church to remember Dean Meyers, 53, a Vietnam veteran, civil engineer, motorcycle enthusiast and huge Beatles fan. He was shot Oct. 9 on his way to his Gaithersburg, Md., home after stopping for gas in Manassas, Va.

Meyers' brother Greg Meyers said he recently found a notebook containing his brother's notes to himself.

"They were notes pertaining to what it takes to be a better person," he said. "He lived that."

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Associated Press writer Allen Breed contributed to this story.