Trucker instrumental in stopping D.C. sniper (October 25, 2002)

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FREDERICK, Md. — An American truck driver is being hailed as a hero for helping authorities capture the D.C.-area sniper who killed 10 people and wounded three others.

Ron Lantz, of Ludlow, Ky., was on his sixth last run before retirement when he heard a description of the suspect’s car on the radio. Shortly thereafter, he saw a car matching the description at a rest stop in Frederick, Md., and after taking a closer look, he called 911.

Lantz and another trucker then positioned their trucks at the rest stop exit so that no vehicles could leave the scene, and waited for the F.B.I. to arrive.

"I just sat there and waited, kept watching my mirrors," Lantz tells CNN. "It was all I could do."

Lantz, who hauls dry powder from the Cincinnati area to Delaware twice a week for Bass Transportation in his purple Kenworth, says he doesn’t consider himself a hero.

“I’m no hero,” he told local media. “I just want people to think what I did was what I should have done.”

When asked if he would try to collect any of the $500,000 reward, he said “I look at it this way: If I don’t get no reward money, I think I’ve gotten rewarded for what I’ve been praying for the last 21 days.”

However he says if he does receive the award, he wants to share about half of it with the victims’ families.

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