Can We Talk 2

DC Sniper

         I don't know why I started thinking about it again. When the DC Sniper was out and about, I was living and working in his vicinity. The day before he shot someone off I-95 in front of Michael's Craft Shop, I had been in that very store. Another stop he made was at a gas station off I-95 south of Fredericksburg. I got off that ramp every work day, and turned at that gas station to go to work. I frequently got gas there. The southern most point of his crime spree was a few miles south of where I lived.

         During that time, we all lived in fear, not at first, but with each new event, we got more cautious. Grown men crouched down while pumping gas into their cars. People got out of their cars and ran into the stores. No one lingered in public parking lots. Even where I lived, about four miles straight off 95 on a country road, people were scared at gas stations. The one near my house was just a country store with a 24 hour pump. Men would stand way back against the building and watch while people pumped gas to be on the lookout.

         Kids didn't play outside near roadways. Extra security was set up at schools and churches. A bogus clue was phoned in about a white box van. Police stopped every white van without big ads and searched them. Many utility workers had their work vehicles searched, while customers waited. That turned out to be a waste of time and taxpayer money. But it shook up honest workers, and the ones who drink on the job, being searched as suspects in a murder case.

         This sick man's crimes not only took the lives of innocent people, but they took away the peace of mind in a very extended community. We became a nervous citizenry, afraid of what the future held. It felt like our lives were on hold until he was captured. As long as the DC Sniper was free, everyone living, traveling, and working inside the I-95 corridor, from Baltimore to Doswell, was a captive.