Man says he was sniper's first target

new york daily ^ | 10/20/02

[knak]

SILVER SPRING, Md. - It was just after 10 o'clock the evening of Sept. 14 when Arnie Zelkovitz showed his new employee, Rupinder Oberoi, how to lock the front door of his liquor store, located in a sprawling shopping mall here, literally seconds from an entrance to the Beltway. Zelkovitz and his wife, Adrienne Zelkovitz, planned to take the next evening off for Yom Kippur, so Oberoi would close up shop.

Heading to the parking lot, the 22-year-old turned back to wait for Zelkovitz when a loud noise rang out.

The young man twisted and turned, then crumbled to the ground, his head on the sidewalk, his legs draped on the macadam.

"I'm hurt. I'm hurt," Oberoi said as Zelkovitz rushed to his side. "I can't breathe."

Zelkovitz lifted Oberoi's shirt and noticed a tiny hole in his back, about the diameter of a pencil. Blood was oozing from around the edges. Bennie, as Oberoi is known, had been shot.

Similarities

Officially, the serial sniper attacks on the Washington metropolitan area would not start for 18 more days. But Oberoi and Zelkovitz say they now know different.

The scenario that unfolded outside Hillandale Beer & Wine more than a month ago has since become all too familiar: a powerful single round, believed to be .22-caliber, fired from a distance, in a shopping center parking lot, close to a major highway, no apparent motive and no shooter in sight.

"Call 911! Someone call 911!" Oberoi shouted.

The cops came that night. But ever since, Oberoi and Zelkovitz have become increasingly angry over the way they say Montgomery County investigators have mishandled the case, with a detective suggesting that Zelkovitz or Oberoi could have been the target of a hit man, a robbery or a hate crime.

"We've had the store 14 years and we've never been robbed. And I don't know of anyone who would want to harm my wife or I, or Bennie," said Zelkovitz, 50.

The Zelkovitzes and Oberoi are convinced that Oberoi was shot by the serial sniper, who officially has killed nine people and wounded two in 11 other shootings in the last 2 1/2 weeks.

Zelkovitz said he was sure Oberoi's case was linked on Oct. 2, when he heard that a sniper's bullet had fractured a store window at a Michael's craft store in Aspen Hill, less than 10 miles away, and that a man had been shot in the chest 44 minutes later while crossing a parking lot in Wheaton, just 7 miles from Hillandale. c The next day, there were five more shootings — all homicides, all relatively nearby — 8 miles in one case, three quick exits away on the Beltway for another.

[aristeides]

Rupinder Oberoi certainly does not sound like a Moslem name. Anybody have any idea of the ethnicity?

[lmr]

What do the ballistics say? Do they have ballistics? If this shooting is explored by the media, the police will eventually have to answer whether it is related or not. I believe this to be the 1st shooting in the spree. It seems the victim is convinced.

[shattered]

I believe he is from India.

[Tree of Liberty]

I believe it's an Indian surname.

[js1138]

That would make two non-muslim Indian victims. Wonder about the odds???

[Glutton]

I saw this guy on TV. That story indicated there is not enough of the bullet to determine if it is rom the DC shooter's rifle.

[Ronzo]

Sounds like there have been MORE sniper attacks then we've been told about! Imagine that. I wonder just how many victims there really have been. I second thought, I don't really want to know...

I'm sure it's not terrorism. Why would a terrorist want to go around shooting innocent people with absolutely nothing in common, other than they were easy targets? I'm sure a terrorist sniper would never do anything like that...

[Darlin']

I think you're right, could be Indonesian, too. Whatever his ethnicity, Mr Oberoi didn't seem to have a problem working for a jewish business owner.

[Axenolith]

Indian victim and Jewish store owners...

Can't link it to the others cause it might just point to hard toward the Religeon of Peace^TM...

[Bogey78O]

Hindu's are about as hated by muslims as jews are. I find it odd that nazi's hate the same people the Islamists hate. Figures.

[cynicom]

Thankful to be alive??? Thats real bright, fits right in with the cops behavior on tv. Idiots.

[11B3]

The Nazis and the Islamists have been hand in hand ever since early in WWII. Mein Kampf is still one of the most read books in the Palis areas, and Hitler is a hero to them as well. Go figure, eh?

[lmr]

Not enough of a bullet to do ballistics or determine caliber? Well, there is much circumstantial evidence anyway, I don't think they had ballistics on all the other shootings either, but they have a reason for linking all of them. It still begs the question, Why haven't they linked this one? It just doesn't seem like any other motive, like robbery is at play here.

[I still care]

Interesting that this seems to have coincided with the start of the Yom Kippur holiday, the Day of Atonement. Of course that may have nothing to do with anything.

[Slyfox]

I remember during the Gulf War reading about Saddam, or maybe it was his father, probably his father, either collaborated with the Nazi's or participated in training excersizes. Muh memry is failin' me.

[John H K]

Then why not pick a few people off leaving Synogogues and Hindu temples?

Hasn't been a single Jew shot yet.

And you can't really visually tell a Muslim Indian or Pakistani from a Hindu Indian at long range (unless the Indian is Dravidian instead of North Indian.) Most Indians are Hindus, though, including in the DC area.

[self_evident]

There is a picture of this guy on BBC here. Not that I really think it matters. The idea of killing Muslims did really inhibit 9/11 that much.

I WOULD think that the police should be more interested in the first case, since it's much more likely that the shooter could start with someone he knew, get a kick out of it, and then branch out.

[ko_kyi]

AQ would have no qualms about shooting what they may have thought was a Muslim working in a LIQUOR STORE.

Remember, they hate westernized Muslims as much as they hate Jews.

[RipSawyer]

"I'm sure it's not terrorism. Why would a terrorist want to go around shooting innocent people with absolutely nothing in common, other than they were easy targets? I'm sure a terrorist sniper would never do anything like that..."


Obviously it is one of the dreaded young white male psycho serial killer types. Has Norman Bates gotten too old and tired to use a knife and switched to rifles?