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Police seize white box truck with shell casing inside
ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- Investigators of the Washington-area sniper shootings Friday night seized a white box truck after a shell casing was found inside the vehicle at a Virginia car rental agency, Montgomery County Police said. The caliber of the casing is unknown at this point. The casing and the truck are to be examined by forensics experts at an undisclosed location. The federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is expected to have results of ballistics testing on the shell casing no sooner than 9 a.m. Saturday. The Montgomery County Police Department, which is leading the multi-jurisdictional task force to find the sniper who has killed nine people and wounded two others since October 2, has sent a team of investigators to the rental car agency. The shootings have taken place in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Authorities would not say when Friday night they seized the vehicle or how they were tipped to it. However, a source close to the investigation said an employee at a rental agency near Washington Dulles International Airport found the shell casing when he was cleaning out the truck and then notified authorities. Police would not disclose further details about the truck, for instance, if it had lettering on the side or a damaged right rear bumper as did the composite graphic of a suspect vehicle some witnesses have reported near shooting scenes in Maryland. Police also said they are still actively searching for the vehicle in that composite and still want the public to provide information pertaining to the shootings. Man charged for false informationMeanwhile, the person who claimed to have seen a man with a gun just before the latest shooting has been arrested and charged with giving false information, authorities said. The would-be witness was identified as Matthew M. Dowdy, 37, of Falls Church, Virginia, according to Fairfax County Police Officer Sophia Grinnan. Law enforcement sources said he has a criminal record and goes by the nickname "Slim." Dowdy originally was thought to be a key witness in the shooting of 47-year-old Linda Franklin outside the Home Depot store in Falls Church Monday. He's been charged with one count of knowingly and willfully making a false statement to an officer who was in the course of investigating a crime by another, a Class 2 misdemeanor, Grinnan said. Dowdy is in police custody and faces up to six months in prison if he's convicted. Montgomery County, Maryland, Executive Doug Duncan said he was pleased with the arrest. "This is a serious matter, lives are at stake. We cannot have people misleading police and wasting our time," he said. On Thursday and Friday police were back at the parking garage searching for new clues. Sources said other people at the crime scene provided partial license plate numbers and those are still being evaluated. With the sniper investigation now in its third week, the only "common denominator" in all reports is that the shooter is a male. (What is known about the sniper) In other developments:
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