Sniper, Under Cover of Fog, Terrorizes Silicon Valley Area

A sniper hidden by fog fired dozens of shots Thursday near a freeway, then eluded more than 50 officers during a daylong search, authorities said.

Eight people were evacuated after the first shots were fired and a two-mile stretch of California 237 in the heart of Silicon Valley was closed for about 12 hours as the search was pressed, police said.

No injuries were reported.

“The episode is over,” said Police Capt. Vic Eastham at about 3:30 p.m., when the evacuees were allowed to return home and the highway was reopened.

A watch and other possible pieces of evidence were found, but no one actually saw the sniper, Eastham said.

Searchers were unable to find any bullet casings, said Larry Stuefloten, deputy chief of field operations for the San Jose Police Department.

“We did almost an arm-to-arm search through the fields, and we had a CHP (California Highway Patrol) helicopter come down to 20 to 30 feet, and we found absolutely nothing,” Stuefloten said. “The thing that absolutely killed us was that formidable fog.”

The identity of the gunman and motive remained under investigation, but an active search of the area was called off, police said.

Police received a report at about 3:30 a.m. of someone shooting a gun in front of a house, Sgt. Dwight Messimer said.

The sniper fired 47 shots between 6 a.m., when police starting counting, and 8:51 a.m., when the shooting apparently stopped, Stuefloten said.

The sun started burning through the fog at about noon as police officers moved closer and tried to talk to the sniper with bullhorns in English and Spanish, Stuefloten said. Police later used dogs to search the area.

One of the evacuated residents in the sparsely populated area, James Holt, said he heard the sniper fire a clip, then reload and fire again several times. Holt contacted police.

Stuefloten said police are not sure whether the sniper used one or more weapons.