SILVER SPRING, Md., Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Police said Thursday a "skilled shooter" may be responsible for the killing of five people in suburban Washington within a 16-hour span.
"Nothing like this has ever happened in Montgomery County," said county Police Chief Charles A. Moose. "Our homicide rate just went up 25 percent today."
The victims, who were white, Hispanic, and from India, were apparently gunned down indiscriminately, authorities said.
None appeared to have been robbed, and authorities didn't suspect terrorism, police said.
Investigators haven't found any indication that the five victims, killed between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday, were related or had any conflict with anyone.
The random violence began Wednesday at around 5:20 p.m., when the suspect or suspects fired one shot through a store window, but no one was injured.
The first slaying occurred shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday in the White Flint, Md. area, when James Martin was shot in the parking lot of a Wheaton grocery store. Police described Martin, as a 55-year-old, white male from Silver Spring, Md.
The next victim was shot and killed Thursday morning about 7:40 a.m., in the White Flint area as he was riding a lawnmower at the Fitzgerald Auto Mall. The 39-year-old white male was identified at James Buchanan, from Arlington, Va.
A half hour later, a taxi driver was killed at a Mobil gas station in the Aspen Hill area. Police identified him as 54-year-old Prenkumar Walekar from Olneny, Md. According to Kang Min, an attendant at the station, Walekar was a regular customer.
"I've known him for four years," said Min. "He came here all the time to buy the newspaper."
Then at 8:37 a.m., a 34-year-old Hispanic woman was shot in the head outside a post office in Silver Spring. Police said Sarah Ramos was shot in the head while she was sitting on a bench outside a post office next to the Leisure World retirement community in Silver Spring.
Less than two hours later at a Shell gas station in Kensington, a 25-year-old white female was shot in the back while vacuuming her van. Police said Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, of Silver Spring, died at the scene.
Jimmy Akca, a technician at the gas station, told United Press International that he heard a "large sound," but assumed it was a car accident at the nearby intersection.
When he saw a woman lying near her mini-van, he went to help her. He assumed she was having a heart attack, he said. When he lifted her up, he saw blood.
"When she was shot, the machine was still on," Akca said.
Given that five people were killed in six incidents, with only one shot per victim, Moose said, the suspect or suspects were "skilled shooters."
Officers are searching for one or more suspects traveling in a white Isuzu or Mitsubishi delivery truck with small, black or purple writing on the side. There may be damage to the rear bumper of the vehicle, police said.
Vehicles that match this description have been pulled over throughout southern Maryland, northern Virginia and Washington.
Police in Montgomery County have received a "rapid and large" law enforcement response from neighboring jurisdictions and bureaus, including the Maryland State Troopers, Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the FBI, Moose said.
As a precaution, Montgomery County schools cancelled all outdoor activities and locked down school buildings. Police patrolled areas around schools when students were released for the day, Moose said.
Police are urging the public to call (240) 777-2600 with any information. They are offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the suspect or suspects.
