| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 5:02:17 PM
Well all these shootings in the DC area are getting a little 2 close for comfort. They started while Rew and I were at Jon's house and we got back just in TIMe for them to get worse. The last 2 shooting have been far to close for comfort. The gas station in Manassas is 1 mile from Franks house and 1/4 mile from his work. I have been in that gas station numerious TIMes going back and forth between Franks and his work. My friend Don's, from 9:30 Club, kids live 1 mile from that gas station and he was in that station days before it happened and a coworker of Franks was at the gas station across the street minutes before it happened on her way home from work. Then the shooting at Home Depot in Falls Church, the Home Depot closest to my DC residence so I use it frequently. The chances of all the places he could strike in such a large area and he hits 2 that I have frequented on multiple occasions reminds you how susceptible you are to madmen. The day after the Home Depot shooting, my roommate ED came home from 9:30 Club and told me he has switced his club radio over to the police scanner after work while he was getting ready to leave and was listening to a rash of robberys at gunpoint that were being perpetrated by 2 youths in a blue minivan. I think they had committed 6 before the shot anyone, but when he heard they had finally shot someone it turned out to be 3 blocks from the club. 10 minutes later our Manager Norm called the club to announce that they had tried to rob him and tried to shoot him. They missed him barely, the bullet went into his coat and exited his coat without hitting him, unfortunately after the bullet left his coat, it hit our dear friend Andy in the hand who was promptly taken to the hospital and released. Ironically, Andy had called me the day before at the club to ask about a reference for someone he was hiring. The short version of all this is, It is all too close for comfort. Sometimes it is easy to put these occurences down as freak type things assuring yourself it could never happen to you but in the space of a few days I have come to believe that is not so true. It is very strange to drive past gas stations and see people walking around their cars as the gas pumps, as he has never shot at a moving target, only people standing still. Everytime I stop at a traffic light I wonder if there is a scope trained on me. I watch for the little red lite from the nite scopes, let me assure you it is no way to live. I don't worry about dying but it is still no fun to not know if you might be next. Unfortunately, there is just no way of knowing. I could get shot standing on the corner outside the club on any nite I am working. I have always known this and accepted this. I don't believe you should live in fear, especially of death, but it is weird when it starts hitting so close to home. I refuse to change my way of doing things, as I stated before after the terrorist attacks, if we do THEY WIN, and I refuse to let that happen. So I go about my merry way, concerned for my well being and the well being of friends and neighbors and hope this tragedy is not visited on any of us. Thanx for letting me vent!!
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy          |
| 37 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 01/25/2003 : 3:51:19 PM
Speaking of conniving lawyers, check out the 4th paragraph to the end where Greenspun, Muhammads lawyer, tries to make it sound like his clients might be innocent and that the prosecuters are actually trying to strengthen a weak case. I understand defending your clients, but in a case like this, where guilt is not really in question, trying to play the "unfair prosecution game" just doesn't hold water for me. SAD SAD state of affairs. Some one really needs to re-evalute our judicial system when it can be argued that guilty men shouldn't be punished based on the way info was gathered or disseminated. I know it is a very touchy issue and dangerous ground to tread on, but in this instance, I think he is just playing word games.
Report: Gun Linked to Sniper Shootings
.c The Associated Press
CLINTON, Md. (AP) - A revolver found near a fatal shooting in Alabama was used in two shootings linked to the Washington area sniper suspects, according to a report on ballistics tests of the gun.
``It puts this gun in their possession,'' Montgomery, Ala., police Chief John H. Wilson III said in Friday's Washington Post. Wilson said he received confirmation of the ballistics results this week in a letter from Prince George's County police.
Authorities have said the .22-caliber revolver was found along a path sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo used to escape after the Sept. 21 fatal shooting of a liquor store clerk in Montgomery.
Although the revolver was found there, tests have shown the clerk was killed with the same Bushmaster rifle authorities say Malvo and John Allen Muhammad used in the Washington area sniper shootings last fall.
Recent ballistics tests showed the revolver was used to wound a pizzeria owner Sept. 5 and a liquor store employee Sept. 15, both in Clinton, the Post reported, citing unidentified Prince George's County police sources.
The gun also was used to fatally shoot a liquor store employee in Atlanta on Sept. 21, the paper said.
The sources said initial tests of the firearm were inconclusive, but a match was made after further ballistics testing.
Muhammad's attorney, Peter D. Greenspun, said he continues to be upset that information about his client has been disclosed outside the courtroom.
``Why won't the authorities investigate and stop these unethical and illegal leaks?'' Greenspun said. ``It is because they are insecure about the quality of the evidence and feel the need to taint the process by leaking inaccurate, incomplete and out-of-context information, which shows their basic lack of confidence about their ability to prove what they allege.''
Malvo, 17, was indicted this week in Virginia on capital murder charges related to the Oct. 14 slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a Home Depot.
Muhammad, 42, is awaiting trial on capital murder charges stemming from the Oct. 9 shooting of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, at a gas station in Manassas, Va.
Malvo and Muhammad are accused of killing 13 people and wounding five in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They are being tried first in Virginia because its laws allow the best opportunities for the death penalty.
01/24/03 14:59 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
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| Fluffy |
Posted - 01/25/2003 : 3:49:58 PM
Speaking of conniving lawyers, check out the 4th paragraph to the end where Greenspun, Muhammads lawyer, tries to make it sound like his clients might be innocent and that the prosecuters are actually trying to strengthen a weak case. I understand defending your clients, but in a case like this, where guilt is not really in question, trying to play the "unfair prosecution game" just doesn't hold water for me. SAD SAD state of affairs. Some one really needs to re-evalute our judicial system when it can be argued that guilty men shouldn't be punished based on the way info was gathered or disseminated. I know it is a very touchy issue and dangerous ground to tread on, but in this instance, I think he is just playing word games.
Report: Gun Linked to Sniper Shootings
.c The Associated Press
CLINTON, Md. (AP) - A revolver found near a fatal shooting in Alabama was used in two shootings linked to the Washington area sniper suspects, according to a report on ballistics tests of the gun.
``It puts this gun in their possession,'' Montgomery, Ala., police Chief John H. Wilson III said in Friday's Washington Post. Wilson said he received confirmation of the ballistics results this week in a letter from Prince George's County police.
Authorities have said the .22-caliber revolver was found along a path sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo used to escape after the Sept. 21 fatal shooting of a liquor store clerk in Montgomery.
Although the revolver was found there, tests have shown the clerk was killed with the same Bushmaster rifle authorities say Malvo and John Allen Muhammad used in the Washington area sniper shootings last fall.
Recent ballistics tests showed the revolver was used to wound a pizzeria owner Sept. 5 and a liquor store employee Sept. 15, both in Clinton, the Post reported, citing unidentified Prince George's County police sources.
The gun also was used to fatally shoot a liquor store employee in Atlanta on Sept. 21, the paper said.
The sources said initial tests of the firearm were inconclusive, but a match was made after further ballistics testing.
Muhammad's attorney, Peter D. Greenspun, said he continues to be upset that information about his client has been disclosed outside the courtroom.
``Why won't the authorities investigate and stop these unethical and illegal leaks?'' Greenspun said. ``It is because they are insecure about the quality of the evidence and feel the need to taint the process by leaking inaccurate, incomplete and out-of-context information, which shows their basic lack of confidence about their ability to prove what they allege.''
Malvo, 17, was indicted this week in Virginia on capital murder charges related to the Oct. 14 slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, outside a Home Depot.
Muhammad, 42, is awaiting trial on capital murder charges stemming from the Oct. 9 shooting of Dean Harold Meyers, 53, at a gas station in Manassas, Va.
Malvo and Muhammad are accused of killing 13 people and wounding five in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They are being tried first in Virginia because its laws allow the best opportunities for the death penalty.
01/24/03 14:59 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.
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| Fluffy |
Posted - 12/23/2002 : 11:35:39 PM
As the article stated, I think they will get the death penalty for him, but I am afraid of the conviction being challenged on constitutional grounds and worse, overturned. It is the first TIMe someone will have been tried and convicted for such an offense and that leaves the door open to coniving lawyers trying to defend A LOSER. |
| PJK |
Posted - 12/23/2002 : 11:21:08 PM
I agree. I can't imagine how the families are dealing with this. It must be hard enough around the holidays without their loved ones without getting the news that there isn't enough fucking evidence to get the bastard what he so rightly deserves! |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 12/23/2002 : 11:00:29 PM
How ironic, the death of innocent folks is scary and the lack of a death sentence for a guilty man is also scary. Is there no justice? Our legal system is the best in the world but it has it's flaws, to many fucking loopholes. Fry the bastard!!! The IRONY does not escape me. |
| PJK |
Posted - 12/23/2002 : 6:27:47 PM
So what is more scarey, the shootings or the fact that Muhammad may not get what he deserves???? |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 12/23/2002 : 07:46:17 AM
CENTREVILLE, Va. (Dec. 22) - Evidence in the Washington-area sniper shootings case points to teenager John Lee Malvo as the triggerman in most if not all of the shootings, according to a published report Sunday.
That could complicate prosecutors' efforts to get a death sentence for the older suspect, John Muhammad.
''There is not much pointing to Muhammad, and that is going to make it really hard to show that he was the triggerman,'' one senior law enforcement official involved in the case told The New York Times. ''There are other ways to attempt to obtain a death sentence, but this lack of evidence has been one of the most perplexing things about the case.''
Muhammad, 41, and Malvo, 17, are charged with capital murder and could face the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors say they are responsible for 13 shootings over a three-week period in October that left 10 dead and three wounded in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. They also are suspected in attacks in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Washington state.
Prosecutors, defense lawyers and police involved in the case in Virginia did not immediately return phone calls Sunday seeking comment.
Fairfax County police are under a gag order prohibiting them from publicly disclosing nearly all aspects of their investigation. It was imposed last week after The Washington Post cited anonymous sources saying Malvo had confessed to being the triggerman in some of the shootings.
''It is remarkable, that even after one court has entered a permanent injunction against such leaks of information, that law enforcement personnel cannot retrain themselves to not leak information,'' Muhammad's lawyer, Peter Greenspun, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
''This story only further demonstrates how easy it is to come to conclusions on speculation and innuendo versus facts,'' Greenspun said.
The Times reported Sunday that the evidence against Malvo includes:
-His own admissions to the slayings of Linda Franklin in Falls Church on Oct. 14 and Dean Harold Meyers in Manassas on Oct. 9, and to one in Maryland.
-Hair linked by DNA to Malvo in the trunk of the car police believe was used as a sniper's nest.
-Malvo's fingerprints found on paper near where investigators believe the shot was fired that wounded a middle school student in Bowie, Md., on Oct. 7.
-Saliva found on a grape stem on a hill where investigators believe the shot was fired that killed bus driver Conrad Johnson in Aspen Hill on Oct. 22.
The Justice Department arranged to have the suspects tried first in Virginia, rather than in Maryland or Washington, largely because death sentences could be obtained more easily against both in Virginia.
A new anti-terrorism law passed in Virginia after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks makes the death penalty possible for criminal masterminds who plan an attack but don't actually carry it out. In addition, Malvo and Muhammad are charged under a more traditional death penalty statute. Unlike Maryland and the District of Columbia, Virginia allows for the death penalty in murders committed by some as young as 17.
While the terrorism law makes it easier to obtain the death penalty against a person who is not the triggerman, it is also a new, untested law that will likely be challenged on constitutional grounds.
The other statute allows for the death penalty when a person commits more than one murder in a three-year period. That statute is unlikely to face a constitutional challenge, but generally only the triggerman can receive the death penalty under that law.
Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert has said a death penalty could be obtained if the evidence overwhelmingly shows that the person who didn't pull the trigger was so thoroughly involved in the planning and execution of the crime that his involvement was equivalent to carrying it out.
AP-NY-12-22-02 1923EST |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/28/2002 : 08:14:47 AM
So last nite I was working with my friend Brady, who I have mentioned numerous TIMes before, and found out the sniper attacks hit even closer to home than I had known before. Turns out, the guy who was shot mowing the grass was the cousin of a 20 year friend of Brady's. Glad it's all over. That stuff was just Too Close for Comfort. |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/25/2002 : 06:56:22 AM
Another article I read said they were not sure that there still are some accomplices out there. People who aided and abetted. Places to stay, cars to use, etc etc etc. I'm with you though, lets hope this nastiness is over and noone has to live in fear of the sniper anymore. Plus I hope they catch anyone else who was involved. |
| pcbTIM |
Posted - 10/25/2002 : 05:58:09 AM
Wow. That is very interesting stuff. Looks like the snipers are behind bars. Let's hope no copycats come out of the woodwork. |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/25/2002 : 03:25:46 AM
THREE KEY CALLS & A FINGERPRINT
By Craig Whitlock, Sari Horwitz and Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 25, 2002; Page A01
It came down to three calls.
One came from a man in Tacoma, Wash., who reported strange behavior by a trigger-happy neighbor. One went to a sincere-sounding priest near Richmond. And one, police said, came from the sniper himself.
Those led police to a killing in Montgomery, Ala. A fingerprint in Alabama gave them a name. That name gave them another name and a local connection.
Within seven days, John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were arrested, ending three weeks of massive and futile dragnets, false leads and white van scares.
"After we submitted that fingerprint, you saw this case break wide open," said Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright. "This print put a name with the sniper."
Before those three calls, members of the task force investigating the shootings were plagued by dead ends and bad luck. They checked thousands of tips, scoured scores of motel registries and followed dozens of potential suspects. They put out composite sketches of vans and box trucks.
But all the while, a faded blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice carrying two armed men passed unmolested through the streets of Maryland, the District and Virginia, dodging roadblocks and chance encounters with police.
Once, on Oct. 8, with six dead and two wounded already, police found Muhammad asleep at the wheel of the car on a North Baltimore side street. They let him go with just a warning, even though five days earlier, a witness had reported seeing a similar Caprice leaving the scene of a fatal shooting on Georgia Avenue in the District. But the tipster had said the car was burgundy or brown, and when Baltimore police checked for warrants and lookouts, they found none. There would be five more shootings.
On Oct. 3 -- a day when five people were killed -- a Montgomery County police officer encountered the Caprice and entered its license number into a computer, but there is no indication that a ticket was issued or that the car's occupants were detained, according to two law enforcement sources.
D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said the tag number was run by area police more than three times during the shootings and was photographed by a camera in Fairfax County as the car ran a red light.
Things began to change, though, just before the last two shootings, when the calls started. The most telling, perhaps, came Oct. 17. A man called police claiming to be the Washington area sniper, sounding agitated and combative, wanting to be taken seriously. He told them to check out a robbery-murder "in Montgomery." That would prove his story.
A day later, the Rev. William Sullivan, a priest at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in Ashland, Va., received an eerily similar call from two men. They were frustrated and upset. And they mentioned a killing in Alabama.
"They used the term 'I am God' and mentioned Montgomery, Alabama, several times," said the Rev. Pasquall "Pat" Apuzzo, the secretary to the bishop of the Richmond Diocese. "It was a garbled conversation."
Apuzzo said Sullivan did not believe he had spoken to the snipers. Rather, he thought the callers were just overly obsessed with the case.
Apuzzo said that on the following Sunday morning, after a sniper shooting in Ashland, Sullivan was met at his church by investigators. "They said, 'We have reason to believe the sniper is someone from your parish,' " Apuzzo said. Then Sullivan told the agents of his phone call.
"Some connection was made in their minds," Apuzzo said of the investigators. From that point, Apuzzo said, Sullivan had several conversations with law enforcement officers.
That same Sunday, J.H. Wilson, the police chief of Montgomery, Ala., was polishing off a steak dinner after attending an Atlanta Falcons football game when he received an urgent call from one of his detectives, who delivered some astonishing news.
"He said, 'You're not going to believe this. Don't get your hopes up,' " Wilson recalled. "It kind of got dropped on us like a bombshell."
The officer unspooled the details of a conversation he had had moments before with agents from the sniper task force in Washington. The agents wanted to know if there were any recent unsolved killings in Montgomery, the state capital.
Wilson and his detectives had a case in mind, a crime that had baffled them and shocked the community. On Sept. 21, a gunman had slain one woman and wounded another outside a state-run liquor store near Interstate 85. A rookie patrol officer saw and chased the gunman, but the suspect got away.
Police thought the motive for the crime was robbery, but they weren't sure and had run out of leads. They had some physical evidence that tantalized the investigators from Washington: a fingerprint, lifted from a magazine about guns and ammunition that had been dropped at the scene.
FBI agents flew to Alabama on Monday to examine the evidence. More agents arrived the next day, as the task force became increasingly interested. By Wednesday, it was clear they were on to something, Wilson said. About 6:30 p.m., he dispatched one of his detectives to Montgomery's small airport with a packet of files and a plane ticket to Washington.
Investigators ran the fingerprint through national databases not available to some local police departments and eventually matched it to a teenager in Bellingham, Wash., clear across the country and a half-hour's drive from the Canadian border.
The fingerprint belonged to Malvo, a Jamaican citizen. His prints were in a national database because on Dec. 18, Malvo and his mother had had a run-in with local authorities in Bellingham, who turned them over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Seattle.
Malvo told the INS in a sworn statement that he had entered the country illegally with the help of smugglers, who brought him and his mother by boat from Jamaica to Florida, via Haiti, according to a federal law enforcement source. He also told them that he lived in a homeless shelter with his father -- whom he identified as John Allen Muhammad.
The INS charged Malvo and his mother with illegally entering the country and took their fingerprints, according to the federal source.
The trail was now hot. While Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose was standing before the cameras talking in code to the sniper, his task force was chasing promising leads.
Police sources said a resident of Tacoma, about 100 miles south of Bellingham, had called the task force hotline last week to report suspicions about someone named Muhammad and someone else nicknamed "sniper" who had rattled the neighborhood by frequently taking target practice with a rifle, shooting into a large tree stump.
Although the caller was short on specifics, agents entered the details into a database of leads accumulated during the sniper investigation, and later learned that Malvo and Muhammad had once lived at the Tacoma address.
The tip took on new currency as investigators simultaneously explored yet another connection to Tacoma and the West Coast, this one supplied by the man they believed to be the sniper himself.
Saturday night, someone professing to be the gunman left a note tacked to a tree outside a Ponderosa steakhouse in Ashland. Contained in the note was a demand for money -- $10 million -- and instructions to wire the sum to a bank account.
Agents traced the account to a woman in Arizona or California who had reported the theft of her ATM card, according to two sources close to the investigation. Agents also discovered that the card was used recently to withdraw money from an ATM in Tacoma, the sources said.
The overlap of leads prompted investigators to quickly shift their focus to Washington state, as they raced to find Malvo and Muhammad.
Detectives discovered that Muhammad had registered a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice on Sept. 11 in Camden, N.J. They also learned, through law enforcement record checks, of the Baltimore stop. That bit of information placed their suspect in Maryland.
Wednesday morning, a posse of federal agents descended on a duplex in Tacoma, armed with chain saws, metal detectors and shovels. They combed through the yard and removed a large tree stump in search of bullet fragments and other evidence.
Later that night, authorities issued warrants for the arrest of Malvo and Muhammad. Officials appeared on national television to ask people to look out for the pair, as well as a Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey tags.
About an hour later, a motorist at a rest stop in Frederick spotted the car. About 3:30 a.m., police arrested Malvo and Muhammad, who had been sleeping inside the the Caprice.
Roig-Franzia reported from Montgomery, Ala.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/23/2002 : 09:18:31 AM
WASHINGTON (Oct. 23) - ''Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time.''
Mothers and fathers in and around the U.S. capital readied their children for school on Wednesday under that chilling threat from a sniper blamed for nine deaths -- and possibly a tenth -- in the past three weeks, reportedly in a scheme to make money.
Police were still working to confirm whether the shooting death of a bus driver in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Tuesday was the work of the gunman, whose murderous spree has terrorized the Washington region since Oct. 2.
Three other people have been shot and critically wounded.
The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources, reported on Wednesday that a message to police from the sniper demanded that authorities put $10 million in a bank account within two days or face more killings.
The angry letter, left at the scene of a shooting on Saturday night in Ashland, Virginia, about 85 miles south of Washington, berated police as incompetent and listed six calls to the sniper task force that had been ''ignored,'' the newspaper reported.
The Baltimore (Maryland) Sun reported on Wednesday that the sniper had left a second demanding letter for authorities near the place where the bus driver was fatally shot.
It said police found the letter at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, several hours after the most recent shooting, in a park near the scene and that it repeated demands made in the first letter.
The first included the threat to the children, Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Chief Charles Moose said at a news conference. ''It is in the form of a postscript: 'Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time,''' he said.
LETTERS AND RESPONSES
In an apparent response to the letter, Moose sent a televised message to the sniper indicating that police had been considering his requests.
''We have researched the options you stated and found that it is not possible electronically to comply in the manner that you requested,'' Moose said.
''You indicated that this is about more than violence. We are waiting to hear from you,'' Moose said, adding that it was important to ''do this without anyone else getting hurt.''
Moose indicated that police wanted to continue the dialogue and said the person could communicate through a private post office box ''if you would feel more comfortable.''
In the latest shooting, Montgomery County bus driver Conrad Johnson, 35, was felled by single bullet around 6 a.m., as he was about to begin his work day.
The first five killings also took place in Montgomery County, an affluent and usually tranquil suburban area just north of Washington. One occurred inside Washington, close to the Montgomery County border. Three people have been killed in Washington's Virginia suburbs.
A 13-year-old boy was wounded in Prince Georges County, Maryland, east of the U.S. capital. A 43-year-old woman was wounded in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and a 37-year-old man was wounded in the Ashland shooting on Saturday, the last attack definitively linked to the sniper.
''Everyone knows that all of our citizens are and have been at risk,'' Moose said. ''The person or people have demonstrated a willingness and ability to shoot people of all ages, all races, all genders and they've struck at different times of the day, different days at different locations.''
The shooting spree has paralyzed the region. Schools have canceled sports events and other outdoor activities and kept hundreds of thousands of students indoors during school hours. The schools were in a high state of alert, with volunteer parents helping to patrol school grounds.
Business has been slowed by public reluctance to venture from home. Most of the shootings have been at shopping areas or gasoline stations.
07:01 10-23-02
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| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/23/2002 : 07:51:04 AM
My guess is he is smart enuf to have it sent to a swiss numbered account or something similar somewhere else in the world so he can't be caught that way. He has been able to avoid capture so far, I can't imagine he would make such an egregious error as that. The funniest comment I heard from anyone on the matter came from a co-worker at 9:30 club, she said, "Moose better not give the sniper the money or Denzel will definitely not be playing him in the movie!"
Montgomery Bus Driver Fatally Shot; Letter Threatens Children in Region
Moose Issues Cryptic Reply To the Sniper
By Michael E. Ruane and Jamie Stockwell
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 23, 2002; Page A01
A bullet fired by an unseen gunman killed a Montgomery County bus driver shortly before dawn yesterday as he stood in the lighted doorway of his empty bus, while police renewed their fitful, anxious effort to communicate with a murderous sniper who has eluded a manhunt for three weeks.
If yesterday's shooting is linked to the Washington area sniper by ballistics tests, the slaying of Conrad E. Johnson, 35, which occurred in Aspen Hill, would be the 10th killing and 13th shooting attributed to the gunman. And it would mark the return of the mysterious assailant to Montgomery. Five victims were shot to death in or near Aspen Hill on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3 before the sniper attacks spread as far south as the Richmond area, where a man was wounded Saturday.
Despite a massive search for the sniper and extraordinary attempts by authorities in recent days to communicate with the gunman, he remained on the loose after yesterday's shooting as Montgomery Police Chief Charles A. Moose urged the public to be "cautious."
"We remain concerned about the safety of all people in our region," Moose said at a news briefing. "We realize that the person or the people involved in this have shown a clear willingness and ability to kill people of all ages, all races, all genders, all professions, different times, different days in different locations."
Moose declined to reveal most of the contents of a letter that law enforcement sources said was found near the scene of Saturday's shooting and that they strongly believe is an authentic message from the sniper. But the chief quoted the letter's dire postscript: "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time."
Moose also publicly issued yet another in a series of cryptic messages to the gunman. Law enforcement sources said the chief was responding to a communication received earlier in the day from the sniper, who the sources said has demanded $10 million.
"We have researched the option you stated and found that it is not possible electronically to comply in the manner that you requested," Moose said in a statement that authorities said would be understood by the sniper. "It is important that we do this without anyone else getting hurt."
Although authorities as of last night had not publicly linked yesterday's slaying to the sniper, it occurred less than a mile from where the shootings started three weeks ago. The attacks later spread to the District, Prince George's County, and Prince William, Spotsylvania, Fairfax and Hanover counties in Virginia.
Yesterday's gunman struck in the early-morning darkness and was able to vanish before police clamped down with yet another vast dragnet that came up empty.
In what has become a familiar scene across the region, the shooting and subsequent massive police response brought traffic in Montgomery to a standstill, closed some private schools, and fueled the growing sense of fear and anger among the public, as well as frustration among authorities.
Traffic was jammed across three Maryland counties, parts of the District, and Northern Virginia. The American Legion Bridge was closed for several hours in both directions, beginning at 6:10 a.m., bringing the morning rush in the area to a halt.
Moose, who has been speaking publicly for a law enforcement task force searching for the sniper, issued a subdued warning to the public after the dragnet failed to snare a suspect. "We have not been able to assure anyone, any age, any gender, any race -- we've not been able to assure anyone their safety in regards to this situation."
Moose's attempts to communicate with the sniper through the news media began after investigators found the threatening letter, which was tacked to a tree near a Ponderosa restaurant in Ashland, Va., according to law enforcement sources. The discovery came after the sniper's 12th victim, a 37-year-old man from Melbourne, Fla., was shot outside the restaurant Saturday night. He remained hospitalized in critical condition yesterday.
Sources who have read the message said it demanded that authorities put $10 million in a bank account for the letter writer.
One source said the letter berated police as inept and detailed at least six failed attempts by the self-professed sniper to reach investigators by telephone since the attacks began Oct. 2. The letter said those attempts to communicate were not treated seriously by call takers, according to sources.
The letter writer also included a telephone number and said he would be calling police on it at a specified time, they said. That time passed before police finished examining the letter and addressing a problem with the phone number, and no call was received, sources said.
That set in motion a series of bizarre communications between the gunman and police, with Moose talking to the sniper in obscure language via TV news cameras.
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| pcbTIM |
Posted - 10/23/2002 : 06:28:23 AM
Wow.......it's just a back-and-forth conversation. Meanwhile, people are getting killed. If they do give him the money, won't they be able to trace it and catch him then? |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/23/2002 : 05:47:01 AM
Angry Missive Complains of 'Ignored' Calls
By Sari Horwitz and Carol Morello
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 23, 2002; Page A01
An angry letter found tacked to a tree behind a restaurant where the sniper wounded a man last weekend complained of six failed attempts to reach police, and threatened more killings -- of children in particular -- if millions of dollars were not deposited in a bank account within two days, according to law enforcement sources.
The letter listed half a dozen calls that had been "ignored" by operators answering phones at the command center in Rockville, the Montgomery County police station and the FBI. It even named some of the people who had taken his calls.
They had hung up, the letter stated; that was "incompetent."
"Five people had to die" because of it, the letter said, according to one law enforcement source who has seen a copy of the letter.
The letter gave a deadline of Monday for the money to be deposited in a bank account, the source said. Several people who had seen photocopies of the letter said the amount demanded was $10 million.
The letter warned investigators that if they were more concerned with "stopping" the killings than making an arrest, they should follow the orders precisely, or else there would be "body bags," said a source.
And it ended with an even more ominous postscript, officials said:
"Your children are not safe anywhere at any time."
The handwritten letter running at least three pages was found sealed and wrapped in plastic in the woods behind a restaurant in Ashland, Va., after Saturday's attack, several sources said. The letter was neatly printed on lined paper and included a number of grammatical errors, including sentence fragments and misspellings, said sources.
Sources said the letter also included a phrase written on a Tarot card left at the scene of the shooting in Bowie on Oct. 7: "I am God."
The discovery of the letter, which police are convinced was written by the sniper who may have killed his 10th victim yesterday, was the impetus for an extraordinary series of veiled public messages to the killer delivered by Montgomery Police Chief Charles A. Moose.
Moose appeared before cameras five times in 48 hours to deliver explicit if sometimes cryptic messages to the man he believes is the sniper -- appearances that followed a series of missed opportunities to communicate.
The letter was found sometime after the Saturday night shooting of a traveler who was hit once in the abdomen as he walked with his wife to their car behind the Ponderosa Steakhouse off Interstate 95 in Ashland, just north of Richmond and 80 miles south of Washington.
It is unclear on what day the sniper began his attempts to call authorities.
One law enforcement official said the man believed to be the attacker failed to get through at least three separate times.
A follow-up call went through, but an FBI trainee who answered the phone did not recognize the call for what it was and cut the conversation short, the official said.
"The individual taking the call did not understand the importance of what was happening," the law enforcement official said. "She pretty much blew him off."
One official described the caller as "extremely angry." The caller, he said, used such phrases as "Just shut up and listen," or "Hear me out," or "I am God," or "I'm in charge."
There was some delay in reacting to the letter because it was sealed and analysts were checking it for evidence, sources said.
When officials finally opened the letter, they found a telephone number that the writer said police would receive a call on, at a specified time Sunday, sources said.
Investigators soon discovered that there was a problem with that phone number, and it took them more time as they tried to straighten it out.
Before the officials had finished their work, the time for the call had passed, several sources said.
So at 7:10 p.m., Moose made the first of his five public appeals to the attacker:
"To the person who left us a message at the Ponderosa last night, you gave us a telephone number. We do want to talk to you. Call us at the number you provided."
Monday morning, a person police believe to be the sniper called again, according to sources. This time police traced it to telephones in the vicinity of an Exxon station in suburban Richmond.
Police dispatched a SWAT team to secretly watch the area. By about 8:30 a.m., an undocumented worker pulled a white minivan up to the phone and started making calls. Another man, also a laborer in this country illegally, was waiting nearby.
Some minutes later, local police decided to move in and grab both men, in a scene that was carried on cable news networks and for a short time provided hope of a break in the frustrating case.
About this time, investigators in Rockville were struggling to understand the message the caller had left that morning, officials said. It was a tape-recorded message played into the phone, sources said, and parts of it were unintelligible.
At 10 a.m., Moose again went before the cameras with a plea for more time to respond:
"We are going to respond to a message that we have received. We will respond later. We are preparing that response at this time."
Six hours later, at 4:15 p.m., Moose returned to the cameras and asked for another call. "The person you called could not hear everything you said. The audio was unclear and we want to get it right. Call us back so that we can clearly understand."
At 6 a.m. yesterday, a Montgomery County bus driver was fatally shot in Aspen Hill, not far from where the string of shootings began Oct. 2. Authorities believe the slaying was committed by the sniper.
Sometime before 4:40 p.m., police received another communication.
At 7:15 yesterday evening, Moose addressed the sniper again.
"In the past several days you have attempted to communicate with us. We have researched the option you stated and found that it is not possible electronically to comply in the manner you requested. However, we remain open and ready to talk to you about the options you have mentioned. It is important that we do this without anyone else getting hurt. Call us at the same number you used before to obtain the 800 number you have requested. If you would feel more comfortable, a private P.O. box number or another secure method can be provided. You indicated that this is about more than violence. We are waiting to hear from you."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/22/2002 : 11:01:39 PM
Seems it may be 10 million dollars. Whatta ASSHOLE!!!
ROCKVILLE, Md. (Oct. 22) - A bus driver was shot to death Tuesday as he was about to set out on his morning route in what authorities fear was the 13th attack by the Washington-area sniper. Police also revealed a chilling warning found at a weekend shooting scene:
''Your children are not safe anywhere at any time.''
Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose issued a new plea, urging the gunman to continue a dialogue with investigators.
''It is important that we do this without anyone else getting hurt,'' he said.
In an extraordinary statement that appeared to confirm authorities are in a desperate parley to stop the killing, the police chief said the sniper had tried to communicate with police over the past several days - and he suggested the gunman had made demands.
''We have researched the options you stated and found that it is not possible electronically to comply in the manner that you requested,'' Moose said in a cryptic message directed at the sniper, and the most extensive so far. ''However, we remain open and ready to talk to you about the options you have mentioned.''
He said the sniper was seeking an 800 telephone number to talk with authorities, and he offered to set up a private post office box ''or another secure method.''
''You indicated that this is about more than violence,'' said Moose, who had asked the sniper to contact authorities for two days before Tuesday's slaying. ''We are waiting to hear from you.''
He refused to take questions from reporters.
Earlier, Moose suggested police had received a new message from the killer. According to a source familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, that message was received after Tuesday's shooting.
The sniper has killed nine people and critically wounded three others in Maryland, Virginia and Washington since Oct. 2. Authorities were awaiting ballistics tests to confirm that bus driver Conrad Johnson is the killer's latest victim.
Johnson, 35, was gunned down in Aspen Hill, the same community in suburban Washington where the attacks began.
He was shot once in the abdomen just before 6 a.m. as he stood on the top step of his bus, setting off a police dragnet and snarling traffic in the suburbs north of the nation's capital. Johnson, a married father of two children, died later at a hospital.
The warning about children's safety was discovered by police outside a steakhouse near Richmond, Va., where the sniper critically wounded a man Saturday night. Moose said the warning came in the form of a ''postscript,'' but refused to describe the rest of the note.
However, a senior law enforcement official speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the note demanded $10 million. It was unclear whether the demand was linked to the options outlined by Moose.
Kathy Franco, who was shopping Tuesday at a Silver Spring mall with her nearly 2-year-old son, Liam, and 6-week-old daughter, Katherine, was angered by the warning about children.
''As a parent, it just completely brings out every animal instinct,'' she said. ''These two are the most important things in the world for me.''
Schools in the Richmond area remained closed for a second day Tuesday, idling more than 140,000 students. School officials had cited information from police in shutting down, prompting questions for Moose, whose office is leading the sprawling investigation.
Moose said investigators recognized ''the concerns of the community'' and decided to provide the ''exact language that pertains to the threat.''
The Virginia schools will reopen Wednesday under heightened security. As of Monday evening, no Maryland schools had decided to close.
Immediately after Tuesday's shooting, police put a widespread dragnet into place, clogging traffic on Connecticut Avenue, one of the main arteries into Washington, just as the morning commute began.
But police came up empty, and Moose said there was no suspect or vehicle description to report.
''We have not been able to assure that anyone, any age, any gender, any race - we've not been able to assure anyone their safety,'' Moose said.
The shooting happened near a wooded area along Connecticut Avenue. The bus was parked at a staging area where drivers get ready for their morning runs, state police spokesman Cpl. Rob Moroney said.
Police refused to say whether anyone else was on the bus.
All the confirmed sniper victims were felled by a single shot. Several residents of a neighboring apartment complex reported hearing one loud bang Tuesday morning.
''It wasn't a pop like a handgun. If it was a gun, it was a high-powered weapon,'' said Tim Roberts, a carpenter who lives nearby. He said he knew about the sound of weapons from his military service.
Johnson, a 10-year county employee, was pronounced dead at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. In his Oxon Hill neighborhood of townhouses and tree-lined streets, residents expressed sorrow.
''This is hitting hard. This not only strikes us as a community, but as a people, as a nation,'' said Harold McClam, who frequently saw Johnson leaving for work in the mornings. ''When they catch this guy they need to punish him to the full extent of the law.''
Fellow bus driver Wade Vassell said a friend had called him with the bad news.
''I know my boy eight years. He was my friend,'' Vassell said. ''I'm nervous, real nervous.''
AP-NY-10-22-02 2155EDT
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| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/22/2002 : 10:57:46 PM
And this morning he struck right here in DC again. Shot a bus driver as he was standing on the stairs to his bus, getting ready to start work. They are now rumoring that he may be asking for 2 million dollars. It is all unconfirmed and the police have sent a message to him thru the press that they would like to hear from him again. Apparently he contacted them somehow(no details) and the police couldn't understand the message. DOAH!! They actually sent a message thru the press asking him to call back. I am not sure who is dumber. |
| enthuTIMsiast |
Posted - 10/20/2002 : 02:23:05 AM
Oh, yeah, I guess.
Its like I told a coworker. You never feel safer in Mississippi than when something like this is happening in places like DC. Man, I'll bet people in Alaska feel as safe as they can feel...
Seriously, tho, I might piss and moan about MS on occasion, but times like this, I'm glad to live here. |
| PJK |
Posted - 10/20/2002 : 02:14:17 AM
Not odd really, for the DC area or the main drag of the eastcoast..I-95. A lot of the victims were local just not all of them. The one tonight is right off 95 which is the main travel route. You are always going to have out of towners on 95. |
| enthuTIMsiast |
Posted - 10/20/2002 : 02:02:57 AM
Seems like lots and lots of these people that get shot are not from the area. I find that odd. |
| PJK |
Posted - 10/20/2002 : 01:55:02 AM
Tonight (Sat) actually last night hehehe. I just realized it is almost 2am. Anyway, it was outside a Ponderosa off I-95 near Richmond VA. I think they said 90 miles south of DC. Shot a 37 Yr old man who was not from the area and just walking back to his car with his wife. |
| enthuTIMsiast |
Posted - 10/20/2002 : 01:06:23 AM
I must not have heard about the latest victim. When was this? |
| PJK |
Posted - 10/19/2002 : 10:03:56 PM
Fluffy, if this new shooting is the work of the sniper than there goes your theory of his weekend job. I guess killing is his job. I'm glad at least this last victim isn't dead. Anyone on the board from that part of VA? (Richmond area) |
| enthuTIMsiast |
Posted - 10/19/2002 : 5:16:09 PM
Fluffy, keep moving, man, keep moving. Hope they catch that lady soon. That's right, I think it's a woman. Maybe even two women.
Ha, how many times has that crossed your mind? Snipers don't have to be men. |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/19/2002 : 4:04:02 PM
Hey Erich, I think you may have been taking one of your breaks from the board when this was discussed. I noticed you never posted to it. You may be interested given your last post:
http://www.timreynolds.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1997 |
| Erich with an h |
Posted - 10/19/2002 : 11:13:21 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Fluffy
Brings new meaning to the phrase, "I don't like Mondays!"
the silicon chip inside her head
gets switched to overload
and nobody's gonna go to school today
she's gonna make them all stay at home
daddy doesn't understand it
he always said she was good as gold
and he can see
no reasons
'cause there are
no reasons
what reasons do you need to be shown
tell me why
i dont like mondays
tell me why
i dont like mondays
tell me why
i dont like mondays
i want to shoot the whole day down
The Telex machine is kept so clean
And it types to a waiting world
And Mother feels so shocked
Father's world is rocked
And their thoughts turn to their own little girl
Sweet 16 ain't it peachy keen
No, it ain't so neat to admit defeat
They can see no reasons
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need, oh-h-h
tell me why
i dont like mondays
tell me why
i dont like mondays
tell me why
i dont like mondays
i want to shoot the whole day down
Down, down, shoot it all down
And all the playing's stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with her toys a while
And school's out early and soon we'll be learning
And the lesson today is how to die
And then the bullhorn crackles
And the captain tackles
With the problems and the how's and why's
And he can see no reasons
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die, die, oh-h-h
And the silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
Oh, and nobody's gonna go to school today
She's going to make them all stay at home
And Daddy doesn't understand it
He always said she was as good as gold
And he can see no reason
'Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to be shown
tell me why
i dont like mondays
tell me why
i dont like mondays
tell me why
i dont like mondays
i want to shoot the whole day down
(Boomtown rats... it just fit the post  ) |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 10/19/2002 : 05:42:49 AM
They have yet to say whether the van and shell are even related to the incidents. As for the press, they are being attacked by the police and various investigative branches involved as hindering the investigation by leaking unchecked facts and statements by "supposed" witnesses. They have commented on numerous occasions at the possible role the media is playing in this. One statement from the police broadcast by local media had them saying "Schools and schoolchildren are safe!". The next day he shot a 13 year old in front of his school. Of course they used this as an example of how the media may have aided in or even provoked him. Of course the press argues the need to inform and warn people as the reasons behind their stories. As for the "false" witness, the press interviewed him and made his comments public before the police could check them out and sent people scrambling in the wrong directions. This guy should be castrated for saying anything at all. Whatta dickhead! Local press here is reporting that from what they have garnered from people involved in the case and profilers almost rules out an ex-military person. He has never shot at a moving target and has never gone for the head shot. They feel someone with military background would be trying to prove how good he is. Show off as it were. This guy seems to go for the easy shot and disappear without a trace. They feel it is a hunter or even a disgruntled youth. Only they feel if it was a youth, there would probably be more than one involved. Rarely do youths attempt stuff of this nature without friends involvement. This looks more like the work of a 30 or 40 something white male with big time issues. They feel he is more concerned with getting away with it. He has never fired more than one shot. This is a real problem as the human ear hears the first shot, but needs a second shot to locate the origination of the sound. With no second shot it has been almost impossible to figure out where the shot come from. He is smart enuf to not fire twice, leading them to believe he is not a crazy, but very crafty. They feel he is more interested in getting away with it. He has not contacted the press himself so they don't think he is a glory seeker in that way. Although he may love the attention he is getting from the press. They think they have one clue he may have left behind at the scene of the school shooting, a death tarot card with the words, "Dear Policemen, I am God". Really they have little or not info to go on or at least if they do they aren't releasing it to the public to help sort out any possible copycats. Alot of professions feel he is challenging the police. They are surprised he has not left the area, as if to say, catch me if you can. Pretty brazen stuff. They think he may have a weekend job as none of the shootings has occurred on the weekend. So I guess for now we are at least safe till monday rolls around. Brings new meaning to the phrase, "I don't like Mondays!" |
| {=HTG=} |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 10:51:52 PM
Good news off of Cnn.
quote:
Investigators of the Washington-area sniper shootings seized a white box truck at a car rental agency after a shell casing was found inside, police said. The caliber of the casing is unknown. Results of ballistics testing is expected Saturday.
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| pcbTIM |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 10:32:12 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Erich with an h
some scarey stuff fluffy... But im glad you and your friends are ok, Im sure that this will cool off soon.
Do you think that the sniper, or any other madman for that matter, would continue doing what they do had it not been for the media coverage? lets say they shoot three people, but its not covered at all, would you think that as a deterent or an encoragement?
I would consider it an encouragment because (I'm drawing from my knowledge of criminal profiling from TV shows like X-files, the Practice, and Law & Order) it seems that most criminals, especially like this, do it for recognition. For example, did any of you see that episode(s) of the Practice with that serial killer who said he was the killer but everyone thought he was dillusional? I know I shouldn't be basing my arguments on television, but his personality seemed very stereotypical of killers: people who look for fame when they can't find it through the norm. |
| {=HTG=} |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 10:19:36 PM
Damn...it's like the police are now back to square one. |
| Erich with an h |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 10:18:22 PM
white van was false. in the news today the cover story said the witness was a dud. |
| pcbTIM |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 10:18:19 PM
Well, no matter what.....it's just wrong. |
| {=HTG=} |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 10:16:54 PM
Pcbdmb, i've been keeping track ever since the first killing ( I also have a current issues class ) and reports say there might be TWO people involved. Some witnesses say they saw a man on top of someones shoulders, holding a rifle before he shot the woman at Home Depot. That has yet to be confirmed. Others say there is always a white van speeding way, and police are searching. |
| pcbTIM |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 10:10:17 PM
I haven't really been following it very much, but to they have a profile on him? I mean, he seems to be very good at escaping without a trace. Is he like some sort of ex-navy seal? Or have I been watching too many James Bond, Stallone, Van Damme movies? |
| Silky The Pimp |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 10:04:29 PM
I cannot imagine how that must be for those of you living in DC. It hits too close for home to me given that I KNOW a few people that live in DC, so I can empathize what it must be like for you. Be careful and hopefully the bastard will be caught before he shoots anyone else. |
| PJK |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 8:47:11 PM
Wow Fluffy, don't know quite what to say except be safe. I think this is scarier than other acts of terror because the sniper is so far away from his victim. (I refuse to put Tim's name it that word!)My nephew lives in Alexandria and works in DC. I thought of him but forgot you live and work down there.
Two of the men who were killed were from my area (Philly)and they were only passing through the DC area.
My son had a gun pulled on him a few years ago at a local mall, but at least the gunman shouted something first and gave my son time to run for cover.
Interesting comment by Erich about the media. Hadn't thought of that but one does have to wonder if the media attention is a factor in this.
Take care Fluffy. |
| Erich with an h |
Posted - 10/18/2002 : 8:19:56 PM
some scarey stuff fluffy... But im glad you and your friends are ok, Im sure that this will cool off soon.
Do you think that the sniper, or any other madman for that matter, would continue doing what they do had it not been for the media coverage? lets say they shoot three people, but its not covered at all, would you think that as a deterent or an encoragement? |
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