- FREDERICK, Md. (Reuters) - When Ron Lantz pulled
his truck into a Maryland rest stop off I-70 early on Thursday, something
just clicked.
-
- The truck driver spotted a blue Chevrolet Caprice with
New Jersey tags in the parking lot off the Maryland interstate highway,
and recalled the police news conference he had just heard in the case of
the Washington area sniper who has killed 10 and seriously wounded three
since Oct. 2.
-
- "I pulled in. I'd heard those bozos talking about
the description of the car, the make of the car, the model of the car,
the license plate number," Lantz told CNN. "I pulled in with
another driver behind me. I told the other driver that car looked kind
of obvious."
-
- Lantz confirmed the car's description with a radio station
and then called police on 911.
-
- They instructed Lantz to wait for state troopers to arrive
but to block the Chevy in with their vehicles.
-
- The unassuming truck driver waited 15 nerve-racking minutes
until the authorities arrived.
-
- "I just sat there and waited ... It was a long 15
minutes," Lantz said.
-
- At one point, he said he started to walk to the restrooms,
but then returned to his truck when he saw there were two people inside
the car. He said he felt safer inside his cab.
-
- But Lantz refused to call himself a hero in a case that
has vexed and terrified the region for three weeks.
-
- "I'm no hero. I don't even want to be classified
as a hero. Just let it go like it is. I did my job," he said.
-
- Just five runs from retirement, Lantz seemed unimpressed
by the possibility of a financial windfall for his police work.
-
- "I know there's a sizable reward. ... If I had the
money, I'd probably take it and give it to the people who were shot,"
he said.
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