Small white lorry may be vital link to serial sniper

Police in the area around Washington DC have issued their first wanted poster in the serial sniper case, but there is no face in the picture. Instead, it shows images of a small white commercial lorry that might have been used by the suspect to leave the scenes of his attacks.

The graphic was released as police and the FBI extended efforts to capture the gunman, who has been blamed for 10 attacks in the capital region in two weeks that have left eight people dead, each from a single bullet wound fired from a high-velocity rifle. The latest victim was shot on Friday.

"We're putting information out, asking people to have their memories jogged," said Police Chief Charles Moose of Montgomery County, Maryland, just beyond the northern fringe of the capital, where five people have been killed. The reward for information in the case was increased to $500,000 (£320,000).

The FBI issued the composite pictures of the van based on descriptions of a vehicle seen by witnesses at one of the earlier shootings.

A second image was to be released representing a smaller white Chevrolet panel van that was seen leaving the scene of Friday's killing in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Police would not speculate on whether the killer may be using two different vehicles.

As the manhunt continued, the commuter belt around the capital as well as the city itself dealt with a weekend of public jitters.

A 10km marathon in suburban Maryland was cancelled and other school sporting events were called off. A shooting just north of Washington on Saturday triggered an enormous police reaction, with a dragnet of roadblocks, but was declared to be unconnected to the sniper case.

Friday's victim was killed at an Exxon station about 40 miles south-west of the capital. Kenneth Bridges, 53, had started filling his silver Buick with petrol when he was struck by a bullet fired from the nearby treeline. Minutes before he had telephoned his wife to say he would be home shortly.

Police confirmed some hours later that ballistics analysis suggested it had been the work of the serial sniper.

Petrol stations across the region were taking fresh precautions yesterday, pointing surveillance cameras away from the pumps and towards any nearby areas that could conceal a killer. The owner of a station opposite the scene of Friday's killing parked a line of high-sided vans across his forecourt to shield customers. "Maybe my customers will think it's safer," said Raja Abilnona.

Police said that after the Friday shooting alone they had received 1,900 calls from the public offering tips. There was no sign, however, that the police had any reliable description of the murderer, who struck on Friday even as a uniformed police officer was standing only 50 yards away dealing with a traffic accident.

Police Chief Moose appealed to the public yesterday to keep an eye out for anyone who might have been acting unusually in the past two weeks, including "someone that was not at work during the incident, has not been keeping their schedules ... [displaying] some sort of anger toward police."