Authorities probe possible sniper shootings in Missouri

ST. LOUIS - Authorities are investigating whether the shooting of an Indiana truck driver on Interstate 44 may be linked to eight other possible snipings at motorists in recent months along the stretch of freeway.

The truck driver was shot in the head Thursday and released from a hospital Friday. She was the first person injured in nine cases of vehicle windows inexplicably shattering in daylight since Feb. 26 along a 10-mile stretch of I-44 in and near Bourbon, about 70 miles southwest of St. Louis, an investigator said.

"Based on the pattern of other incidents, it's possible we may be dealing with a sniper-type situation," Bourbon Police Chief Bill Williams said Saturday. "We're not saying it is, but we'd be foolish not to acknowledge that it's a concern."

Amy Holder, 34, of Paris Crossing, Ind., was shot near her left temple while her husband rested in the semi rig's sleeper compartment.

Holder, screaming and bleeding, managed to pull the tractor-trailer to the shoulder. Her husband drove to a nearby gas station and summoned police, Williams said.

A bullet fragment found in the truck - the first actual evidence of a shooting in any of the suspected cases - has been forwarded to the Missouri State Highway Patrol for testing, Williams said.

The worries parallel those earlier this year in Ohio, where authorities investigated more than 20 shootings - including one death - along a five-mile stretch of Interstate 270 in Columbus. A suspect arrested in March in that case has pleaded not guilty.