Pellet Gun Sniper Eludes Deputies in South Carolina

GREENVILLE, S.C. â€”  A pellet gun sniper targeting cars along Interstate 85 struck again Wednesday, in spite of deputies patrolling on the ground and in the air.

In 10 days, someone has shot at least 26 cars, most on a mile-long stretch of highway bordered by pine trees, a river, a sewage treatment plant and a television factory.

Deputies in camouflage suits are hiding in the trees, and spotters with binoculars are on the high ground along the highway, a major business route between Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta.

The only injury has been to a teen-age girl who was hit in the eye by glass when a shot went through a van window. But drivers are getting jumpy.

Jo Ann Surrett, a reservations clerk at a nearby motel, said she has started taking a different exit off the highway to get to work. “I’m not as afraid as if it were a real gun, but I still don’t want my car to get hit,� she said.

The situation is different from I-295 at Jacksonville, Fla., where a series of sniper attacks in 1992 led the national AAA motor club to tell motorists to avoid the area, said Lee Morris, a spokesman for AAA Carolinas motor club.

That series of attacks involved weapons that could kill, Morris said. “This is one guy with a BB gun.�

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Department has increased patrols and used unmarked cars, bloodhounds and a helicopter, but the sniper keeps slipping away.

Authorities have said there now may be copycat snipers. Most vehicles have been hit around the Mauldin Road exit on Greenville’s south side, where two more vehicles were shot at early Wednesday. But two others were hit Tuesday about five miles away.