Thursday, October 3, 2002 began as a beautiful fall day in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Little did anyone in the area know that a single shot through a store window and an ominous fatal shooting the night before in a shopping center parking lot near a busy intersection would be the beginning of several weeks of drama that would set off a huge manhunt gripping the entire region.
The investigative effort alone would bring thousands of local, state and federal law enforcement personnel to the region and throw the county into high alert as police urged motorists to stay off the roads, schools kept students indoors canceling outdoor activities and parents drove children home, some even crouching in their seats as they rode in the car. Motorists were afraid to purchase gas while others refrained from eating at outdoor cafes. Retail parking lots remained mostly empty along the usually bustling Rockville Pike and Connecticut Avenue corridors.
At least 14 sniper shootings, including 10 fatalities, in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia would prove to be very challenging not only for investigators, but especially for emergency first responders as they would be called to each and every scene. Although frustrating to emergency care providers, the victim
