Shots hit van, car on I-71 south of Columbus

Two people reported seeing a man get out of a car on an overpass.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Witness descriptions of a gunman and a vehicle were the most detailed yet in the investigation of 21 sniper shootings along a highway south of Columbus, authorities said.
A van and a Mercedes were shot minutes apart on an interstate Sunday, in a case resembling the linked shootings, but the farthest yet from the original locale.
Franklin County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Martin stopped short of linking the two cases to the serial gunfire. However, he said they seem consistent with the Interstate 270 shootings, based on initial evidence.
Shooting victim Douglas Berry described the gunman as a middle-aged white male, with a medium build. Another motorist called 911 Sunday, reporting a black sports car on an overpass.
"We've had some vague issues in the past, but this is by far probably the best," Martin said.
No injuries were reported in Sunday's shootings, which happened about 11:30 a.m. on Interstate 71 in Jeffersonville, about 40 miles southwest of Columbus and about 25 miles from any linked shootings.
Noticed car on overpass
Berry, 51, of Mansfield, the driver of the Mercedes, said he was driving north on I-71 when he noticed a car pull to a stop on an overpass.
"I saw him park his car, get out of it, walk to the rail and take his shot," Berry told The Columbus Dispatch. "It sounded like a boom, a blast."
Berry thought the shooter had a handgun, because he said he would have noticed a rifle. "Even with the radio up loud, I could hear the shot. It was large caliber," he said.
The van driver, identified in a sheriff's report as Cheryl Shreyer of Baltimore in central Ohio, did not return phone messages seeking comment left at her home Sunday night.
Both vehicles were struck in the hood on the driver's side, Martin said. At the Flying J travel plaza about a mile from the shootings, a bullet hole was visible in the hood of the dark gray Mercedes, about 6 inches from its windshield.
A lane of I-71 northbound was closed for part of the afternoon as officers searched the area.
Martin, who heads the highway shootings investigation, said the shots were fired from two overpasses about one mile apart.
Report of black car
A driver on Interstate 71 called the Fayette County Sheriff's emergency dispatcher Sunday to report seeing a person standing next to a black car on an overpass, according to a recording released to the press.
"I don't know. It looks like he just got out of the vehicle," the caller said.
"It looks like a black sports car," the caller later added.
One person has died in the serial shootings, which have targeted vehicles, homes and schools near the highway encircling Columbus.
Most of the sniper shootings have occurred in an area of I-270 and I-71 on the south side of Columbus.