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fo_ roas108 Type of «By JEANNINE AVERSA ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER : WASHINGTON—Microscopic clues on bullets and fragments have allowed investi- gators to link shootings carried out by a deadly sniper terrorizing the Washington area, but authorities are still trying to pinpoint the gun used, , After analyzing ballistics and other evidence, Jaw enforcement officials concluded yesterday that the most recent shooting that killed bus driver Conrad Johnson in Aspen Hill, Md., on Tuesday was indeed linked to the sniper, said Michael Bouchard, an agent with the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. That means the sniper has killed 10 people and critically wounded three others in Mary- land, Virginia and Washington since Oct. 2, While ballistics evidence has revealed that a .223 caliber bullet was fired from the same - narrowing down the exact make and . rifle, model of the gun used is tricky, “Upwards of 100 different rifles” use that ammunition, said ATF spokesman Jim Cran- Gall, All kinds of rifles use a 293 caliber bullet, including guns used’ in sporting activities, military weapons, such as the M-16 rifle, and 8 —_ 5 ~ co = <= mM Tr en ee gun used in killings still unknown ” some “assault type of weapons,” Crandall said, Jim Kouri, vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, said that the .223 caliber bullet tends to break up more than other bullets upon impact, @ challenge for ballistics examiners. “It is very, very difficult tomake comparisons when yougeta ~ fractured or shattered round,” Kouri said. Kouri also said that the .228 caliber bullet holds more gunpowder and travels three times faster than the popular .22 caliber used in many handguns and rifles, . “I don’t believe the sniper fires more than once,” Kouri said. “He doesn’t want any bullets out there in good coridition.” Bouchard wouldn't discuss the condition of ballistics evidence from Tuesday’s shoot- ing, saying only it was “similar in character- istics to a .223 round.” . Every firearm has individual characteris- tics that are as unique to it as fingerprints are to human beings, ATF says, . However, an ATF database that helps firearm * examiners match ballistics evidence contains only images of casings or bullets from crime scenes or from test firings of weapons used in- crimes, It doesn’t include images of every gun sold in the United States, so a gun that hasn’t been used in a previous crime isn’t included in the computer database, Bouchard wouldn'tsay whether any ballistics evidence recovered from any of the sniper cases matched any images in ATF’s database. Firearms examiners analyze microscopic scratches and dents—on the bullets, their fragments or cartridge casings—to try to determine whether they were fired from the same weapon, Grooves inside the barrel-of a gun help a bullet travel with precision. When a bullet is fired, these grooves and other unique charac- teristics dre imprinted on the bullet. When a bullet or bullet fragment is recovered from a crime, it is examined to see if a pattern of grooves and “lands”—the distarice between the grooves —can help determine the type of firearm that was used. Examiners also weigh the bulletor bulletfragments to try to identify the caliber and type of firearm. Bullet casings also can have distinctive markings created by the gun’s firing pin, ejector and breech mechanism—the place where the bullet sits in the barrel of the gun. tuonip 3 rorea {mojag ooeds u) Bujddiyo junoy) JAS Due} aaj €0-he-9} Jo auu ‘aed 9y€>1Nu)) {ayes pur Ajo “adedsmau (ees wovosedt