Sniper: 'Your children are not safe'

I am going to speculate again...this sounds a lot like al Qaeda. They have stated on several occasions that they are entitled to kill a large number of American children.

I was leaning away from the terrorism angle in the past few days, but this chilling warning has me thinking terrorism again.

What do you think?

I think it is time to go ahead and put scout snipers in wooded areas around DC intersections and the like. It would be manpower intensive as hell, but this guy is so much smarter than the cops that it is just ridiculous. The cops and Feds are never going to catch this guy or these guys.

They are fighting a guerilla war and we are using conventional law enforcement tactics against them. It ain't gonna work. These guys will fade away just like Pancho Villa. They are either going to get tired of this or they are going to ring up a horrendous body count and change the definition of the term "terrorism." Carlos Hathcock had 93 confirmed kills in RVN. It is going to take a huge amount of luck to get this guy...and the only way to make that luck happen is to have real professionals hiding in the bushes waiting for his @$$. He won't be expecting that. He obviously has no problem with squad cars at every intersection. Only problem is, how do you keep the local cops from shooting our guys?

I say suspend posse commitatus if you need to...no child should have to catch a 5.56mm round because some pot-smoking libertarian has nothing better to do than worry.

Deputize a bunch of Force Recon, SF, Delta, Ranger and SEAL operators and set ambushes for this a-hole! AND DON'T TELL ANYBODY ABOUT IT!

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (CNN) -- A post-script to a message believed left by the sniper after Saturday's shooting warned: "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time," the lead investigator of the case said Tuesday.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose also told reporters that authorities had received another "communication" and that they "will be responding soon."

Moose said he was revealing the threat against children because it had the topic of much speculation and erroneous reporting. He said law enforcement officials were aware of the warning and were taking it into consideration when making safety decisions.

The brief news conference came hours after a bus driver was shot to death in Montgomery County, Maryland. Moose did not say whether that killing was connected to the attacks that have left nine dead and three wounded in the Washington area.

Police said the driver was standing on the top step platform of a commuter bus when he was shot in the chest. The bus was sitting in a staging area where buses begin or end their routes.

The driver was taken to a trauma center in Bethesda, where he died.

Authorities identified the victim as Conrad Johnson, 35, a married father of two and a 10-year employee of the county's Ride On bus service.

"He loved basketball, he loved his kids -- very large extended family. And he's going to be missed greatly," said Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said police had not received any descriptions of vehicles or suspects from Tuesday's shooting. He urged citizens to remain vigilant.

"We remain concerned about the safety of all the people in our region," Moose said. "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, [at] different times, different days, different locations."

Bus rider Nicole Collins believes she came close to being a victim of the sniper.

"I usually get on that bus," she said. "God was with me today. That could have been me -- just dead."

The shooting was reported at 5:56 a.m. EDT in the Aspen Hill neighborhood of Silver Spring, an area close to the scenes of several of the previous sniper attacks.

Police in cars and helicopters converged on the shooting scene, which is near a basketball court surrounded by woods. Major roadways in and around the Washington metro area were blocked as police hunted for clues. Bloodhounds were being used to comb the woods near the scene. (Gallery)

The shooting prompted officials to order all Montgomery County schools to operate under Code Blue, said Brian Porter, director of communications for the schools. Under Code Blue, all exterior doors are locked, all entrances and exits are monitored and all staff maintain a higher level of vigilance than usual, said Porter.

The first six sniper shootings took place in Montgomery County. No one was injured in the first, when a window was shot out at a Michaels craft store in Aspen Hill on October 2. Five people were subsequently killed in the county October 2 and 3.

Meanwhile, law enforcement sources said a hand-written note found near the scene of Saturday's sniper shooting in Virginia "hinted at a demand for money" and threatened "more killing." One official said it contained a timeline for authorities to act, and if they failed, then there would be more attacks.

CNN initially withheld that information at the request of law enforcement officials, who feared that releasing it could jeopardize the investigation and put the community at risk. However, after several other news organizations reported the information, the officials said they had no objection to CNN reporting it.

The note is undergoing analysis at an FBI lab for DNA, handwriting and other details that might help determine who wrote it. Sources said authorities were working under the assumption that it is from the sniper.

The discovery of the note behind the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, prompted Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose on Sunday to make his first plea to the sniper to contact authorities. (Account of response to note)

Investigators believe the sniper called authorities Monday morning using a voice-disguising device, a source close to the investigation told CNN.

It was that phone call, this source said, that prompted Moose to urge the possible sniper to "call us back."

"The person you called could not hear everything that you said. The audio was unclear, and we want to get it right," Moose said at a Monday news conference. (Full story)

Other developments
•The victim of the shooting outside the Ponderosa restaurant, a 37-year-old man from Melbourne, Florida, was in critical but stable condition at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. Officials linked the shooting to the other sniper cases after analyzing the bullet that doctors removed from the man.

•Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday he did not foresee the FBI taking over the sniper investigation, but he did not rule out the possibility. (Full story)

•Public schools in 10 Richmond-area districts were closed Tuesday, officials announced Monday. They include schools in the cities of Richmond, Petersburg, Hopewell and Colonial Heights, and in the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico, Goochland, Dinwiddie and Prince George. Five of those districts also were shut down Monday -- affecting about 150,000 students -- because of parental and community concern following Saturday's shooting in Ashland, north of Richmond.

-- CNN correspondents Kelli Arena, Jason Carroll, Patty Davis and Jeanne Meserve, and producer Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.

I personally don't buy the money angle, I think this is disinformation designed to enrage the shooter into making mistakes or contacting the cops again. However I'm not convinced it's a jihaddi.

Hey yeah...great idea...why don't we just suspend the Constitution also...who cares, it's for the children....

Oh wait, it is already happening in Maryland. The cops are taking away rifles from law abiding citizens....and calling it voluntary.

Check it out here:

Gun Confiscation in Maryland?

At this point there's very little doubt among thinking people that this is Islamoterrorism, probably al-Qaeda directed. ....and I agree with you that this is a job for spec-ops.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday he did not foresee the FBI taking over the sniper investigation, but he did not rule out the possibility.

Just what the hell is the Department of Homeland Security good for? Doesn't Tom Ridge think that this is terrorism? Is saving his guns for large scale attacks? Why wouldn't the FBI get involved in this? FBI should have gotten involved weeks ago!

There is more to this than the investigators are letting us in on.

This local dumb redneck sure has the cops in dither.

posse commitatus is not in the constitution. It is a federal statue.

I say suspend posse commitatus if you need to...no child should have to catch a 5.56mm round because some pot-smoking libertarian has nothing better to do than worry.... Deputize a bunch of Force Recon, SF, Delta, Ranger and SEAL operators and set ambushes for this a-hole!

Very well thought out response. If society is under attack by chaos, then the government should adopt the methods of chaos and start kicking down doors whenever they please, take whatever they want, and hold you in custody until the murders stop?

I don't think anybody has the answers, including myself, but suspending the rule of law is nothing I would've wanted under Xlinton, so I don't wanna see it now.

What a coincidence!

What Department of Homeland Security? That proposal got bottled-up in the Senate.

HERE is my response/proposal. Lots of details to work out, but it is the American way IMHO.

Also generating lots of discussion which is good.

Best regards.

Well, I already have my M-14 (M-1A), but I don't see this happening.

You're making a real reach there, sir. I say put some Spec Ops guys on the ground in this guy's area of operations and you start talking about sending soldiers around to kick in doors and hold people without charges?

If it was YOUR son or daughter who was hit next, would you object to having a few Marine Scout Snipers in ghillie suits on the look out for this guy?

Read my post a bit more carefully...there is an "also" in there. I know why Posse Commitatus was enacted, do you?

Yes, I have & it sickens me. We let the liberals appoint judges who have subverted the laws of the land.

Did you read the post about Maryland gunowners?

Yeah I do. And I also happen to know that it has been suspended on several occasions with no violation of civil rights and for good reason...here in New Orleans on New Year's Eve 1972, a Black Panther got atop the Howard Johnson's high-rise hotel set the place on fire and started shooting people with a Ruger .44 Magnum Carbine. He killed or wounded about a dozen firefighters, policemen and civilians. This was in the days before SWAT teams. The cops had no clue. They needed a helicopter and the local Marine Corps Reserve unit provided a CH-46 flown by a Lt Col Pitman and with 2 Marines with M-14s on board to "defend the helicopter." They put 3 cops on board too and flew up there at night and nailed the guy...the Marine had trouble getting approval from the Pentagon due to posse commitatus but in those days the Chair of the House Armed Services Cte was none other than F. Edward Hebert of LA. The Mayor called him and he called the Pentagon and told them that people were dying and more would die without the helo.

After it was over, the Marine went back to NAS New Orleans and the city and country were all better off due to his initiative.

Conventional law enforcement is even more helpless today in this sniper situation. They need help and they should get it. No child should have to die because of hand-wringing over a 125-year old federal statue.