The reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the 'Washington sniper' has risen to more than $350,000, after another person was shot dead in a seemingly random shooting last night.
Fears over the sniper mounted after the man was shot dead at a suburban petrol station in an attack similar to other random shootings that have left six dead and two wounded since October 2nd.
Dean Harold Meyers (53) was shot dead last night after filling up his car in Manassas, Virginia, about 30 kilometers southwest of Washington near a main road into the capital, police said.
Officials said they had not yet confirmed whether the incident was related to the other shootings, but were working with authorities from where the attacks occurred.
"I think many people certainly have conjectured and surmised that a lot of this crime scene looks like the other crime scenes we've been dealing with," police chief Mr Charles Moose of Montgomery County, Maryland, where five of the killings took place, told reporters today.
But he cautioned that, "at this point, we do not have hard evidence to say that the situation is linked or not linked."
A white Dodge Caravan minivan was seen leaving the area yesterday, but police have not determined whether it was involved in the shooting.
Last week, police said they were looking for a white box truck seen speeding away from the scene of one shooting.
The sniper reportedly taunted police earlier with a message, scribbled on the "Death card" from a Tarot deck, stating: "Dear Policeman, I am God." The message was left at the scene of the killer's last confirmed shooting on Monday.
A shell casing had also been found at that scene on the grass, where police suspect the killer lay in wait for a 13-year-old boy shot on Monday as he was being dropped off at school. The boy remained in critical condition in a Washington hospital.
The victims were both male and female, and of varying races and ages. All were felled with a single bullet.
Ballistics tests have linked six of the nine shootings, in which police believe a high-powered hunting or military rifle was used.
AFP