Replies

Ex-wife of infamous ‘D.C. Sniper’ felt guilty about shootings
November 10, 2009 9:05 a.m. EST
Click to play
Sniper’s letters read
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* John Muhammad’s second ex-wife, Mildred, believes she was ultimate target of sniper spree
* Muhammad: For long time, I felt extreme guilt for victims that were gunned down
* Carol Williams, his first ex-wife, plans to visit Muhammad before execution and bring son
* Muhammad has maintained his innocence in the deaths of at least 10 people in 2002

(CNN) — His shooting spree left at least 10 dead and millions terrified of bullets coming from an unseen sniper.

But Mildred Muhammad believes she was the ultimate target of her ex-husband, John Allan Muhammad, the man dubbed the “D.C. Sniper.”

And for some time, Muhammad said she felt extreme guilt for the victims that were gunned down in grocery store parking lots and gas stations. The youngest was a 13-year-old boy who was shot while walking to his Maryland school.

Muhammad spoke about the guilt she felt after the killing spree on CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Monday night, the day before her ex-husband was scheduled to be executed.

Muhammad said she has gradually gotten over her guilty feelings and focused on her three children.

“I felt that way initially because I had done everything I knew how to do to bring attention to how dangerous he was to me,” Muhammad said. “I had no idea his anger would extend beyond me, to include all people in his killings.”

John Muhammad, the mastermind behind the Washington-area sniper attacks of 2002, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening at a state prison near Jarratt, Virginia.

During two lengthy trials — including one featuring testimony from young accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo — and in several years of legal appeals, John Muhammad has continued to profess his innocence.

Prosecutors say John Muhammad intended the killings to provide a smokescreen to cover up his real goal — killing his ex-wife Mildred and gaining custody of his three children.

Muhammad said she divorced John Muhammad because of abuse and has not visited him since he was in prison.
Video: D.C. sniper’s family opens up
I had no idea his anger would extend beyond me.
—Mildred Muhammad, ex-wife of “D.C. Sniper”
RELATED TOPICS

* John Allen Muhammad
* Shootings
* Washington, DC

“I feel that all of my efforts, all of my energy is to help my children through this emotional turmoil that they are going through,” said Muhammad. “I don’t have an emotional attachment to John.”

John Muhammad’s other ex-wife, Carol Williams, also talked to King Monday.

Williams, John Muhammad’s first wife, said she plans to visit him in prison with their son Tuesday before the execution.

Williams also brought letters that John Muhammad wrote her from prison.

“Carol, I have missed my family for the past eight years. I don’t want to be missed the day that these devils murder my innocent black (expletive),” John Muhammad wrote in one of the letters.

Williams said she was not surprised that John Muhammad still believed he was innocent.

“I’m praying for myself, for my son, and also for the families of the victims,” Williams said.