Ohio shootings close school for second day
Two school buses found with a dent made by bullet
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Police have received about 2,000 tips concerning shootings along the southern stretch of I-270.
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The head of a Columbus school district cancels classes after finding two school buses were struck by bullets.
Police have linked a 16th case to the Ohio shootings.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) -- Authorities at the South-Western City School District in southern Columbus announced they would cancel classes for a second day Friday.
Classes were canceled Thursday, a day after two dents were found in the rear of two of the buses, said Superintendent Kirk Hamilton. "Law enforcement then verified that, indeed, the dents were caused by bullet impact," he said.
A spokesman for the Franklin County Sheriff said schools would close so all the buses can be checked.
For the 20,500 students, a two-week winter vacation, which was to have begun Friday afternoon, began a day early.
"We hate to close school but, at the same time, we don't want to do anything that jeopardizes the children in any way," Hamilton said.
"We fully expect that we'll reopen on January 5, following the holiday break, and resume our normal schedule."
The dents were found Wednesday and were determined by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to have been caused by bullet strikes, said Mark Warner, a spokesman for the school district.
One of the bullet strikes was found during a routine daily inspection; the other was noticed by a bus driver who had parked his vehicle behind the bus that had been struck and was waiting for students to get out of school, Warner said.
Both bullets struck the right, rear portion of the bus. But there was no ballistic evidence to link the shootings with the others, said Steve Martin, chief deputy of the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.
Upon questioning the drivers, authorities concluded that one of the buses was hit about 7 a.m. Wednesday and the other about 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday or Wednesday, Hamilton said.
Martin added that authorities aren't certain where or when either of the shootings occurred.
Another shooting investigated
Meanwhile, authorities are investigating more shootings, including one reported Wednesday night.
A resident of a house near Interstate 270 told police he heard shots fired after 10 p.m. outside his house, ran outside and saw a car driving off.
Soon afterward, a driver called police saying his car had been hit by a car speeding on the same road, officials said.
Though the two events "appeared to be unrelated" -- the accident apparently occurred at least eight minutes before the shooting -- investigators nevertheless took paint samples from the car that had been hit, said Martin.
In a shooting Monday, a bullet penetrated a Franklin Township home and came to rest in a bathtub.
Investigators linked a bullet taken from the home to the weapon used to kill a 62-year-old woman shot November 25 on the interstate as she was riding in her friend's car, Martin said.
"That brings the total to seven such incidents, with the number of positive ballistic matches," he told reporters.
It was the seventh of the 16 incidents along I-270 near Columbus reported since last May to be linked to the same weapon by ballistic tests. Authorities have connected the other nine shootings by their proximity and method.
Authorities have suggested that the shooter or shooters are familiar with the village of Obetz, which lies just inside I-270.
Martin said Wednesday that more than 2,000 leads have been called in to a tip line and that the reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case stands at $30,000.
Transportation workers have installed cameras along the southern corridor of I-270. (Full story)
CNN's Kris Osborn contributed to this report.
