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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95227,00.html
Maybe this won't effect the AWB sunset afterall
CHARLESTON, W.Va._—_Police said Wednesday_ballistic tests_show a .22-caliber rifle_was used in last week's separate sniper-style slayings of two people outside of rural convenience stores that appear to have been drug-related.
Kanawha County Chief Deputy Phil Morris also said police believe the two victims of the Aug. 14 shootings were targeted.
"We can't eliminate the possibility of a sniper, but it appears like it is drug related," Morris said.
Police have released little information about a fatal shooting at a Charleston convenience store that occurred four days earlier, but said a possible drug connection has not been pursued.
Ballistic tests showed_Jeanie Patton, 31, and_Okey Meadows Jr., _26, were killed Aug. 14 by the same weapon, Morris said during a news conference.
The two_Campbells Creek residents were shot from 50 yards to 75 yards away. Patton was killed while pumping gas at a convenience store in Campbells Creek while Meadows was fatally shot about 90 minutes later while standing outside buying milk at a store in Cedar Grove, about 10 miles east.
Tests were incomplete on the bullet that killed 44-year-old Gary Carrier Jr. on Aug. 10 while he was making a telephone call outside a Charleston convenience store.
However, Morris said the characteristics of the bullet found in the Charleston shooting is similar to those of the bullets in the other shootings.
All three were shot in the head or neck between 10:20 p.m and 11:30 p.m.
"There is nothing to indicate they're not related," Morris said.
Police also released enhanced photographs of a_Ford F-150 (search)_extended cab pickup similar to a vehicle that eyewitnesses have described as being at the scene of the Campbells Creek and Cedar Grove shootings. No vehicle has been identified in the Charleston shooting.
Supersoftware, an Australian video company, has provided images of a pickup that were enhanced to represent nighttime conditions to help spark additional information from potential eyewitnesses. The company also produced images of the white vehicle police originally sought in the Washington, D.C., area sniper shootings last year.
Investigators have interviewed four witnesses who said they saw the truck the night of the shootings. The interviews have allowed police to track the truck's movements. At one point, the vehicle was parked in the middle of the road in Campbells Creek and people had to drive around it, he said.
Police have been conducting a door-to-door investigation in the Campbells Creek area. Investigators returned to the area Wednesday to talk to residents, who say the two shootings may be drug related.
Investigators talked to family members of one of the Aug. 14 victims Tuesday and were told about a possible cocaine connection.
"That's not to say that one of the victims had been using it," Morris said. He would not identify the victim or the family.
Similar concerns have not been raised about Carrier's death.
"We weren't pursuing the drug angle. We didn't have anything in the past to link that person with drugs," Charleston Police Chief Jerry Pauley said Wednesday.
Midge Rader, who is Patton's aunt, said Tuesday that the substitute cook and custodian for Kanawha County schools was drug-free. "She was never on drugs and she never drank," Rader said.
Meadows' family has not returned telephone calls seeking comment.
Earlier Wednesday, Morris backed away from a "random sniper" theory. He said it appeared that Patton and Meadows had been targeted by the shooter because both shootings occurred in a rural area of Kanawha County, 10 miles east of Charleston.
The shooter had to drive past another convenience store to reach the store where Patton was shot. The store where Meadows was shot is further east.
"I don't believe (the shooter) just happened upon them," Morris said. "They were obviously targets."
"I believe it's one shooter, one weapon, two victims. Possibly three," he said.
The Charleston shooting occurred at a Go-Mart in an urban area near the junction of interstates 64 and 77.
Morris said Campbells Creek residents' concerns about the extent of drug dealing in the area was a surprise to his investigators.
"Until this double homicide, the community hasn't spoken out," Morris said. "We knew there were drugs on Campbells Creek, but not to the extent the public is telling us now."
Maybe this won't effect the AWB sunset afterall
in the room, accept no substitutes...
