Wsp Flooded With False Reports Of I-90 Sniper Troopers Get Scores Of Calls About Chipped Windows, Men In Fatigues

Authorities called for calm Friday as Spokane-area commuters continued to worry about getting caught in the cross hairs of a freeway sniper.

Washington State Patrol dispatchers have been flooded with calls during the past several days. Publicity about the freeway shootings prompted more than 100 reports of chipped windows, sightings of men in fatigues lurking near the freeway and even people in trees scanning Interstate 90.

“Some of them appear to be legitimate,” said WSP Capt. Jim LaMunyon. “Many of them are not.”

The high volume of false calls and a lack of evidence are complicating the investigation, LaMunyon said. Authorities still are unable to say if the freeway sniper is using a pellet gun or a rifle.

“We haven’t found any projectiles in the vehicles,” LaMunyon said. Tests to find residue from a pellet or bullet on glass fragments have been inconclusive, he said.

Reports of freeway shootings decreased Friday, but authorities were no closer to catching a suspect.

Authorities thought they got a break in the case early Friday when sheriff’s deputies descended on a Valley apartment complex that overlooks the freeway.

Deputies heard two shots fired as they surrounded a unit at the Villa 90 apartments, and arrested Alfred S. McFarland, 25, without incident. McFarland, who was booked into the Spokane County Jail for second-degree reckless endangerment, was reported to be shooting an assault rifle in the area, said sheriff’s Lt. David Wiyrick.

Deputies found an SKS assault rifle inside McFarland’s apartment, but nothing to link him to the freeway shootings, Wiyrick said. He is being held on a $5,000 cash bond.

“At this point, it’s under investigation,” LaMunyon said. “We’re looking for links.”

Extra patrol cars continued to cruise the freeway Friday. Officers checked several reports of suspicious people seen walking near the freeway, including one near Pines Road.

Workers at Regional Telephone Directories near the Pines interchange called deputies about 1 p.m. when they saw a man dressed all in black acting strangely in the brush.

“He was just standing there looking over the freeway,” said Jorene Primmer, one of the employees who saw the man.

Suspicious men also were reported at the Broadway and Argonne interchanges.

Several reports of shootings and sniper sightings Thursday also produced no solid leads, LaMunyon said.

Authorities asked people to consider the circumstances before calling police.

“If it’s reasonable to suspect a rock flew up and struck their car, we are asking people to look at it in that light,” LaMunyon said. , DataTimes