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Breaking News

Press Conference on Search of Wooded Area in Maryland

Aired October 09, 2002 - 11:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We've been following the story in Washington, a story in the wake of that shooting on Monday of that boy there. We got news to come out of Ft. Washington this morning.
Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm told it could be several hundred acres, but I'm trying to get more information on that.

QUESTION: There are sever parks in the area. Which particular one is this in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still trying to get that information.

QUESTION: Is the description of a man?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The subject is described as a white male. He was wearing a blue jacket and a blue baseball cap. He was carrying a long black bag. I would like to tell you that, yesterday there were people in this area who approached us today and told us they had seen some surveyors in this area, and those surveyors were carrying long black bags carrying tripods. We don't know whether that could be related to this. We are certainly proceeding with caution. We're sending a team of officers into that area to check the woods to make sure that nobody is in there.

QUESTION: You haven't been in the woods yet?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are utilizing air one, again, to see whether or not anybody could be in there, but we have to approach this as cautiously as possible. We're trying to do it quickly, because we realize that there are schools around here and parents are going to be concerned, and we also know the people that live in the area are concerned. So, again, we are proceeding quickly but cautiously.

The school have been notified. We do have patrol officers over there. They are on lockdown already, so there are no outside activities going on, but they have been made aware of what's going on here.

QUESTION: No plans to evacuate the schools or anything like that at this point?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not at this point.

QUESTION: Can you tell us about the person who made the call, somebody who lives in the neighborhood?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still trying to get that information. I just know that we did locate a witness who said that this is what he saw, and we're following up on his information.

QUESTION: It was a 911 call, is that right?

Do you know anything about somebody getting locked up down here, a woman getting locked up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don't. No.

This is where we've set up our command post. This is the area -- this is where we're going to start our search, and we'll end up somewhere near Hyde Airport, I believe. I'm trying to get better information for you as to the parameters of the search. I just don't have that at this point.

QUESTION: We see ATF agents. Can you give us a sense of the magnitude of people who are responding, the different agencies and so forth?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any time you get a call like this, obviously, everybody is on edge, as it is. We're going to check out this information, view it as credible, up until we can verify nobody is in the woods.

HARRIS: We've been listening to Prince George's County's, Maryland police officer there explaining to the press what's going on in this area of Ft. Washington, Maryland, where some eyewitness had called in a report of seeing a man in the woods near a school there with a long, black bag, we are told.

We have more information on what -- this eyewitnesses identified a white male with a white jacket and blue cap carrying such a long bag. The officer, however, did alert the media there that there have been a number of sightings in the last couple of days of surveyors out there this that same area, and they carry long bags to carry the equipment, and they're trying to see if there's some connection there with an eyewitness report this morning. So we'll keep our eye on that story, and give you any developments as we get them right here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 9, 2002 - 11:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We've been following the story in Washington, a story in the wake of that shooting on Monday of that boy there. We got news to come out of Ft. Washington this morning.
Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm told it could be several hundred acres, but I'm trying to get more information on that.

QUESTION: There are sever parks in the area. Which particular one is this in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still trying to get that information.

QUESTION: Is the description of a man?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The subject is described as a white male. He was wearing a blue jacket and a blue baseball cap. He was carrying a long black bag. I would like to tell you that, yesterday there were people in this area who approached us today and told us they had seen some surveyors in this area, and those surveyors were carrying long black bags carrying tripods. We don't know whether that could be related to this. We are certainly proceeding with caution. We're sending a team of officers into that area to check the woods to make sure that nobody is in there.

QUESTION: You haven't been in the woods yet?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are utilizing air one, again, to see whether or not anybody could be in there, but we have to approach this as cautiously as possible. We're trying to do it quickly, because we realize that there are schools around here and parents are going to be concerned, and we also know the people that live in the area are concerned. So, again, we are proceeding quickly but cautiously.

The school have been notified. We do have patrol officers over there. They are on lockdown already, so there are no outside activities going on, but they have been made aware of what's going on here.

QUESTION: No plans to evacuate the schools or anything like that at this point?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not at this point.

QUESTION: Can you tell us about the person who made the call, somebody who lives in the neighborhood?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still trying to get that information. I just know that we did locate a witness who said that this is what he saw, and we're following up on his information.

QUESTION: It was a 911 call, is that right?

Do you know anything about somebody getting locked up down here, a woman getting locked up?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don't. No.

This is where we've set up our command post. This is the area -- this is where we're going to start our search, and we'll end up somewhere near Hyde Airport, I believe. I'm trying to get better information for you as to the parameters of the search. I just don't have that at this point.

QUESTION: We see ATF agents. Can you give us a sense of the magnitude of people who are responding, the different agencies and so forth?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any time you get a call like this, obviously, everybody is on edge, as it is. We're going to check out this information, view it as credible, up until we can verify nobody is in the woods.

HARRIS: We've been listening to Prince George's County's, Maryland police officer there explaining to the press what's going on in this area of Ft. Washington, Maryland, where some eyewitness had called in a report of seeing a man in the woods near a school there with a long, black bag, we are told.

We have more information on what -- this eyewitnesses identified a white male with a white jacket and blue cap carrying such a long bag. The officer, however, did alert the media there that there have been a number of sightings in the last couple of days of surveyors out there this that same area, and they carry long bags to carry the equipment, and they're trying to see if there's some connection there with an eyewitness report this morning. So we'll keep our eye on that story, and give you any developments as we get them right here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com