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‘ THE FREE LANCE-STAR, FREDERICKSBURG, VA. e e@ e THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24,2002 AT Nation FBI agents swarm Tacoma rental house, search for clues By PAUL QUEARY ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER TACOMA, Wash.—The first clue that the day would be different came when neighbors saw men in suits snooping around the slate-colored duplex. “They just moseyed up and started looking around like they owned the place,” said Dean Resop, who lives a block away from the home. The strangers were FBLagents, Within hours, it became apparent that the working-class community had become the latest focus of the investigation into the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shoot- ings that have left 10 people dead and three others critically wounded since et. 2, The FBI refused to say what it was looking for at the property on South Proctor Avenue. -But law enforcement sources speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the agents were seeking evidence at the rental home related to ammunition. Chris Waters, an Army private at Fort Lewis, lives directly across from the duplex. He said he heard repeated gunfire from somewhere in the neighborhood almost every day in January, but he wasn't exactly sure where. “Itsounded Itke a high velocity round,”: said Waters, who fires a variety of high- powered weapons as a soldier. Eventually, Waters said, he called police and they crulsed through the neighborhood. He said they didn’t find anything suspicious, “It sounded like a high-powered rifle such as an M-16,” he said. “Never more than three shots at a time. Pow Pow. ow.” While children played in the late afternoon sunshine yesterday, their par- ents watched investigators cut up and remove a tree stump, pull up nails and examine a 55-gallon burn barrel. “They cut the burn barrel in half. They went through that for a good hour,” said Matt Cousineau, who lives next door to the duplex. “They are not missing a Square inch of that yard.” Shelly Eberwein, who lives on the other side of the Cousineau duplex, said investigators were digging up part of the yard when metal detectors went off. She said agents reassured her there was no danger ‘but also refused to elaborate on what they were doing. The neighborhood of mostly single- family homes is neat but sparsely landscaped. The duplex appeared to be of late 1960s vintage, with a burned-out car in the carport. Associated Press writers Curt Anderson, Allen G, Breed, Stephen Manning and John Solomon contributed to this report. An FBI Investigator removes evidence from a rental home yesterday In Tacoma, Wash. ° Se Tt OO do