VIA WASHINGTON POST
A white man who stabbed or attacked three dark-skinned men in Leesburg this month is probably the ‘Flint serial killer,’ thought to have killed five men and wounded 10 — almost all of them black — in Michigan, police said Monday.
The unprovoked Virginia assaults began Aug. 3, when a teenager out for a nighttime jog suddenly felt a sharp pain, then turned to see a man who had plunged a knife in his back. Two days later and a short distance away, police think, the same assailant stabbed a 67-year-old man who was sitting on the stoop outside his apartment. Then, on Friday, the attacker asked a man for help fixing a dark-green sport-utility vehicle, then struck the good Samaritan in the head with a hammer.
Leesburg Police Chief Joseph R. Price said he is confident the man wanted in Flint is the same person attacking men in Loudoun County. There are striking similarities in the methods of the attacks, but the strongest evidence is the specific description of the suspect’s green SUV, which is nearly identical in both locations.
Price said he thinks the man may be prowling for more victims and warned residents to be on guard. He recommended that people use the buddy system while walking or jogging. Police in Michigan have been reluctant to say the attacker is motivated by race, but Price was not.
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‘He’s attacking based simply on the color of their skin,’ Price said. ‘I would consider this man to be very desperate and very dangerous.’
Police said they have reached out to the local NAACP. ‘It does appear that the target of his rage, the targets of his attacks, are African American,’ Price said.
Two of the Leesburg victims are black. The 19-year-old who was struck with the hammer is Hispanic, but police think the attacker mistook him for African American because of his dark complexion. In the Leesburg attacks, the man has not used racial slurs or indicated any motive to his victims. In two instances, he did not speak.
In Michigan, police think a single assailant has stabbed 15 men since May, killing five. Thirteen of the victims are black, and two are white. All of the those killed were black. Michigan State Police 1st Lt. Patrick McGreevy said investigators there are aggressively examining the Leesburg cases but are not certain the same man is responsible.
Anyone with information about the attacks is asked to call Leesburg Police at 703-771-4500. Callers who want to remain anonymous can call 703-443-TIPS
