By ,
Published January 14, 2015
At least one person has been arrested in connection with a shooting spree along Interstate 64, a police source told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The news came shortly after a search warrant was served at a house in Crozet, Va., Friday in the case.
The warrant was executed at a rural residence called Yonder Hill Farm in Albemarle County and was related to the six-vehicle I-64 shootings early Thursday morning, said Virginia State Police Lt. Tim Hopwood. He was tight-lipped on further details. A press conference was tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m. EDT on Friday.
State and local police have also been investigating whether shots fired at a bank building and in a residential Virginia neighborhood could be tied to the I-64 shootings.
Police said shots were fired at a Dupont Community Credit Union in Waynesboro, Va., between midnight and 2 a.m. Thursday — the same time police were getting reports of someone shooting at vehicles on I-64 between Waynesboro and Charlottesville.
Bullets struck a window and part of the bank building, as well as a van parked in the lot. No one was injured.
Surveillance video showed a light-colored 1970s AMC Gremlin with a dark horizontal stripe.
Police also got a call at 12:30 a.m. about shots fired in a Waynesboro neighborhood, and later discovered a bullet hole in a house along with a shell casing. A witness mentioned seeing a car that looked similar to the Gremlin.
Police confiscated the car late Thursday. They found it unoccupied at the Greene and Albemarle county line.
The spree had motorists and police on edge in a region where memories of the deadly Beltway snipers still haven't faded.
Virginia State Police continued to hunt down a pair of gunmen suspected of the shootings and more troopers patrolled the highway Thursday night.
Officers don't have a motive for the shootings, and believe that the culprits are still in the area.
The highway remained open for most of the day Thursday after police closed down a 20-mile stretch between Charlottesville and Waynesboro overnight while they pursued two snipers who shot cars at three known locations.
No one was seriously hurt in the gunfire. Two people were treated and released at the hospital for very minor injuries, according to state police Col. Steve Flaherty. It wasn't immediately clear whether they were wounded by bullets or shattered glass.
After reviewing ATM surveillance video, Waynesboro Police identified the Gremlin associated with activity that took place in the parking lot between 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning.
Police recovered an abandoned Gremlin late Thursday evening in Albemarle County, Va., Waynesboro Police Sgt. Kelly Walker said. Authorities have determined the vehicle owner's identity and the investigation is ongoing, Walker said.
The Gremlin might be a promising lead because running models of the car are extremely rare.
Police are investigating the possibility that the car was involved in the interstate shootings, but caution they are awaiting further forensic analysis of the Gremlin and ballistics results before asserting a connection between the incidents.
There were no signs of an increased police presence during the daylight hours and state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said motorists would not notice beefed-up patrols after dark.
"You may not see the troopers, but they're there," she said.
At least six vehicles — four of them known to be occupied — were pelted by bullets along an 11-mile stretch of the freeway Wednesday night, beginning shortly before the first call came in about 12:10 a.m.
Flaherty said two cars, a van and a tractor-trailer traveling westbound were struck by bullets. An unoccupied parked Virginia Department of Transportation truck also was found riddled with bullet holes near an exit for I-64 along Route 250, and police were following up Thursday afternoon on the reports that gunmen had fired at a sixth vehicle.
"I really don't have a good feel for how long this went on," said Flaherty at a Thursday morning press conference. "We have evidence that it was more than one suspect."
He downplayed the characterization of the shooters as "snipers," saying they could just be pranksters and calling the spree a "random firing."
He said it appears that it was the same type of gun used in all the shootings, several reports of which came in over about a half-hour period. Ballistics tests were being conducted, but officers weren't ready to make a determination as to the kind of weapon used, according to Flaherty.
Shots were fired at three different known locations — from an overpass near the 106-mile marker, at a westbound off-ramp near the 114-mile marker and at a Virginia Department of Transportation outpost.
I-64 was shut down between 12:10 a.m. and 6 a.m. Thursday from mile marker 96 in Augusta County to mile marker 118 in Albemarle County while police conducted their preliminary investigation.
State Police Sgt. David Cooper said investigators were closely checking several interstate ramps as well as wooded areas in the vicinity of the shootings.
Albemarle County Schools were closed Thursday, according to the district's Web site.
Flaherty asked anyone with any tips or information to call Virginia State Police in Charlottesville at (434) 293-3223, or the local Crime Stoppers at (434) 977-4000.
FOX News' Catherine Donaldson-Evans and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/report-virginia-police-arrest-one-in-interstate-64-shootings-after-search-warrant-served