ROCKVILLE, Md.--Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose said every tool available will be used in tracking down the sniper who fired on seven people in three days--killing six and wounding a Spotsylvania County woman.

Those resources include Kim Rossmo, a former detective with the Vancouver Police Department in British Columbia who now analyzes crimes using what's known as geographic profiling.

Though neither man would release details of the profile created about the shootings in Washington, Montgomery County, Md., and Spotsylvania between Wednesday and Friday afternoon, Rossmo said the tool can help identify the shooter's "anchor point"--usually his home.

He said that while it appears the victims were chosen at random--they were men and women, black, white, Hispanic and Indian, and were all going about their daily tasks--the shootings will fit a pattern when the locations are analyzed.

"They may be attacking stranger victims," Rossmo said, "but geographically, their hunting process is not random."

He said that by feeding data from the crimes into a computer algorithm, analysts can prioritize their leads based on location.

The theory is that criminals operate--consciously or subconsciously--in an area that fits into their comfort zone and their desire for anonymity.

Yesterday, during a series of news conferences held outside Montgomery County Police headquarters, Chief Moose announced that the death of a Washington man whose body was found in woods on the border of Montgomery and Howard counties had been ruled unrelated to the sniper shootings.

He also said that the ATF lab may be unable to link evidence retrieved from two of the Maryland shootings to a firearm. That, however, did not change his view that they are part of the same shooting spree.

Moose said profilers with the FBI's National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime in Stafford County are continuing to review evidence to create a suspect profile. They were also poring over information gathered about the victims to help determine whether links could be found among them, said Capt. Nancy Demme, a Montgomery County Police spokeswoman.

Last week, the FBI also sent its Stafford-based Rapid Deployment Logistics Unit to Montgomery County. That group has provided invaluable support, Moose said, bringing computers and personnel to manage information generated by the cases.