Witness account falsified

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- A witness description of a cream-colored van at the Washington-area sniper's latest killing and descriptions of the suspect and weapons are not credible, investigators said Thursday.\nMontgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is heading the investigation, said reports describing the shooter as dark-skinned, olive-skinned, Middle Eastern or Hispanic were also getting so much attention they were confusing the investigation.\n"We get this noise, this confusion out there that gives people tunnel vision and makes them focus in on things that are not appropriate," Moose said.\nThe details stemmed from witness reports after Monday night's shooting of a 47-year-old FBI analyst as she loaded her purchases into her car at a Home Depot parking garage. Investigators had said it was the first time witnesses saw a shooting since the apparently random attacks began two weeks ago.\nOn Wednesday, authorities described an AK-74 as a weapon one witness reported seeing, but they reminded the public Thursday that the AK-74 is part of a family of some 30 similar weapons, and people should not be focusing on just one.\nEarlier, investigators said the witness reports were too inconsistent to yield a composite sketch of the shooter.\nThe only pictures they have released have been composite drawings of vehicles witnesses reported seeing leaving the attacks: a white box truck and a Chevrolet Astro van or Ford Econoline van.\n"The message we're trying to say is please keep an open mind," Moose said Thursday. "People saw a description of a weapon over the last day and a half, and we're convinced they eliminated people they know because they say 'Their gun is not the weapon I saw in the paper.' We need people to realize it's a family of weapons and we still need to hear from them."\nSince Oct. 2, there have been 11 shootings in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., that have left nine people dead and two wounded. One of the wounded, a 13-year-old boy shot outside his school in Bowie, Md., was upgraded Thursday from critical to serious condition, hospital officials said. The other wounded person, a woman in Virginia, was released from a hospital last week.\nThe victims were men and women of varying ages and ethnic backgrounds, each hit with a single bullet while going about everyday activities. A tarot death card left at one scene read: "Dear Policeman, I am God."\nLaw enforcement sources told The Associated Press there was no indication that the sniper on Monday night had targeted Franklin because of her job with the FBI's Cyber-Crimes Division. Police said Franklin was not assigned to the sniper case.\nDefense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld agreed this week to call military surveillance aircraft into the hunt for the killer. Sources said federal agents on the plane will relay information to authorities on the ground.\nThough police remained a subtle presence around major intersections, gas stations and schools there was no obvious sign of military planes in the rainy skies Wednesday.