Ex-isle residents Virginia resident Pat Milone has avoided going to the grocery store for the past week in the aftermath of the sniper shootings that have killed nine people and injured two others.
living in D.C.
area are cautious
Having a sniper about
is changing their livesBy Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com"Nobody is going out," said Milone, a former Pearl City resident who moved to Vienna in northern Virginia 13 years ago. "It's scary because you never know where he's going to strike. He's striking in places that are so common to us."
Like many of their neighbors, former Hawaii residents who live in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., are trying to cope with the fear and uncertainty that come from two weeks of sniper attacks.
All the shootings occurred while the victims were carrying out their daily routines: pumping gas at the service station, walking through the parking lot at the grocery store or being dropped off at school.
The most recent victim, 47-year-old Linda Franklin, was killed Monday night in the parking garage of Home Depot in Falls Church, Va.
Milone and residents in her community were especially affected by the latest shooting, which happened about 10 to 15 minutes away from their homes.
"It's pretty stressful. ... Everybody's lives have been on hold," she said.
But as Milone's refrigerator grows empty, she reluctantly plans to drive to the grocery store today. "The kids need food," she said.
Milone said shoppers are taking precautions by walking between vehicles in the parking lot.
Some of her friends are ducking behind their vehicle's gas tank while pumping gas. Others look for full-service gas stations to avoid stepping out of their cars.
Her 9-year-old daughter, Siena, had trouble sleeping when the first sniper shootings occurred, she said.
All outdoor activities have been canceled at area public schools, and the soccer leagues her children play in have canceled practices and games, she said.
"People are taking the necessary precautions to be safe and stay safe," said Paul Cardus, press secretary for U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka and a former Wilhelmina Rise resident.
Cardus said residents are dealing with the unease and uncertainty of a gunman or gunmen still on the loose.
"It's the randomness of it and the complete and utter unpredictability of it that has raised the concern regionwide," Cardus said.
Cardus, who also lives in northern Virginia about 10 miles away from Washington, D.C., said residents are more attentive to their surroundings and are looking around the parking lot before they enter and leave the store.
Though residents are gaining a stronger sense of awareness, Cardus said the shootings have not changed his daily schedule. "You can't let external threats affect the way you live your life, because if you do, the terrorist wins."
Ainakoa resident Clif Chang, an engineer who is spending a year at U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye's Washington office as a Brookings Fellow, said the chance of getting gunned down by a sniper "is still pretty slim.
"Still, there is that fear factor of thinking when you drive down to the store, whether someone has a scope on your forehead," Chang said. "It's high in everybody's mind."
While federal police officer Isaac Hoopii is in Hawaii on a three-week vacation, he makes sure his 10-year-old daughter, Kukana, who is staying with relatives in northern Virginia, calls him three times a day.
"I think about it all the time," said Hoopii, adding that the latest shooting at Home Depot happened about five minutes away from his home, he said.
Hoopii was at the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel yesterday to accept the 2002 Top Cop Award at the 18th Annual Law Enforcement and Security Appreciation luncheon after he saved 17 people from the burning Pentagon during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Hoopii said that with the sniper on the loose, he advises area residents to "be more cautious of their surroundings, anything that looks out of the ordinary."