Students don’t fear sniper attack
Students interning in Washington say the sniper attacks have not changed their lives because they don’t think they will be attacked within the city.
By Sarah McNamara
Staff Reporter

Washington Center student Julie Ann Matonis has been to two of the sniper crime scenes in Maryland as an intern for Tribune Broadcasting, but she isn’t letting the shootings change her lifestyle.

“I’m not worried about my safety,” said the senior broadcast journalism major, adding that she doesn’t have the same emotional standpoint as the public because she’s covering the story. “I find myself worrying about other things like getting to work on time or if it’s going to rain that day.”

Matonis’ feelings were echoed by other students interning in Washington, many of whom are trying to keep their lives from being disrupted by the recent shootings and the media frenzy it has created.

The unknown sniper has launched a series of 11 random rifle attacks in the past two weeks, killing nine and seriously injuring two. All but one of the attacks have been in neighboring suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. One was just inside Washington at the Maryland border.

Meanwhile, the approximately 14 students involved with the Washington Center internship program are going along with their normal routines, said Valerie Martinez-Ebers, director of the Washington D.C. Internship Program.

“I have been in contact with my students and with people at the Washington Center and no one has expressed any concerns,” Martinez-Ebers said. “It’s really not a big deal.”

Martinez-Ebers will travel to Washington today for a routine visit with the students at their internships, she said. But the visit is not related to the recent sniper attacks, she said.

“This is a big story, but the statistics of me being in danger or my students, it’s minuscule,” Martinez-Ebers said.

Heather Thompson, a senior political science major, also has an internship in the Washington area for the Washington Campus, a non-profit organization.

Like Matonis, Thompson said she feels secure.

“Being in the city, I feel like the threat is lessened,” Thompson said. “I feel my chances are greater to win the lottery than to be hit by this sniper.”

But Thompson acknowledges that not everyone shares her sense of security. She said that as the shootings have occurred around the Washington area, some residents feel it’s kind of like a game: Nobody knows who could be next.

“It’s very surreal in that it could be you,” Thompson said.

While police from counties where the attacker has struck are participating in a joint investigation as well as both state police forces, Washington’s metropolitan police, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Matonis and Thompson said they are going to live life normally— regardless of whether the sniper is caught.

This report contains material from The Associated Press.