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Those in fear find solace on the edge
By BILL ADAIR, Times Staff Writer
CHEVY CHASE, Md. -- Tom Schmitz likes to go for a morning run, especially now that the cool autumn weather has arrived. But lately he has been staying indoors, using his exercise bike. He's a strapping guy, but he doesn't want to be gunned down by a sniper. Louise Micallef has stayed away from local parks for the same reason. She has kept her 3-year-old and 1-year-old at home, but says they're tired of being cooped up. "The kids are going nuts because they can't go outside," she says. In the Washington area, people are taking extraordinary precautions because of sniper attacks in the past week that have killed six people and injured two. Schools have canceled recess, outdoor sports and physical education classes. Student safety patrols are not allowed outside because officials are afraid for the students' safety. In parking lots, shoppers nervously eye their surroundings as they climb from their cars. People peek into bushes to make sure no one is hiding. "Everybody is looking over their shoulders," says Brian Edwards, a public relations executive who lives near the shooting sites. "Everybody's on edge." The latest victim, a 13-year-old boy shot Monday, remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday. Authorities said they were looking at a number of earlier shootings for possible links, including one Sept. 14 outside a suburban liquor store. The attacks have struck a deep chord in the Washington area because they appear to be random. The victims have included a man mowing a lawn, a woman sitting on a park bench and a woman vacuuming her minivan. Children and parents are taking unusual precautions. "Usually I'm embarrassed to walk around and hold my mom's hand, but I don't care today," said Amanda Wiedmaier, 13, who attends Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Md., where the boy was shot. The shootings have occurred not in a rough-and-tumble section of the city, but in suburbia -- at shopping malls, a gas station and the school. The only remote pattern so far is that two shootings -- in Aspen Hill, Md., and Spotsylvania County, Va. -- have been near Michaels arts and crafts stores. For many residents, the attacks rekindled memories of last fall, when anthrax killed two Washington postal workers. The fear of a terrorist attack -- by anthrax or other means -- prompted many people to take extreme precautions. Some disinfected mail. Others stopped riding the subway. Micallef, a stay-at-home mother in Chevy Chase, said the sniper attacks are "hitting home a little more" than the anthrax fears did. She could take precautions to protect her children from anthrax in the mail, she says, but it's difficult to prevent a shooting. The consensus among suburbanites is that the shooter is familiar with the Washington area and is probably a local resident. As law enforcement agencies create scientific profiles of the sniper, the suburbanites have a blunt description of the suspect. "It's a sicko," says Teri Hardenburgh, 32, a pharmaceutical saleswoman from Arlington, Va. Police are offering a reward of more than $237,000 for someone who finds the killer, but detectives apparently have not identified any suspects. Many parents kept their children home from school Tuesday. Attendance was down about 5 percent at Montgomery schools and down by one-third at Tasker, in adjacent Prince George's County. Parents are also preventing their children from seeing TV news about the sniper. Micallef keeps the TV off when her 3-year-old is around. "He can't process that," she says. An ordinary stroll across Wisconsin Avenue -- one of Montgomery County's main thoroughfares -- now makes people jittery. When Hardenburgh crossed Tuesday, she was wondering if she would be gunned down. Schmitz, the runner-turned-indoor-biker, says he's trying not to be paranoid. But the 50-year-old transportation consultant doesn't want to risk his life by running outside. "It just doesn't make sense to do it now," he says. A white truck was seen near the shootings, so many people are taking note every white truck they see. Emmanuel Antwi, 39, a stock associate at a clothing store, kept a close eye on one Tuesday. He tried to get a tag number but was unable to before the truck drove away. Suburbanites say they have tried to strike a balance between reasonable precautions and having their lives disrupted. "I've got to live my life," says Karen Paris, a saleswoman for a drug company. But she's also aware of the danger. "I make sure I kiss my husband goodbye in the morning." -- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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