Law Enforcement Meltdown in Montgomery County

Various Live Broadcasts

[Mfkmmof4]

As a Prince George's County resident who had to leave my job in a school tonight at 5:45 with the swat team outside my heart goes out to Chief Moose. He has done a wonderful job of handling this situation and if he asked for federal help today...thank God!! Tell this to the family of the 13 year old who has lost part of his stomach and pancreas and then wonder how they feel!!

[M. T. Cicero II]

What I was trying to say is that the “meltdown” criticism and the Chief Moose is out of his league is not warranted. “Now” – meaning at this very minute, no agency has this thing solved, so criticizing Chief Moose for not having it solved is absurd. I absolutely agree with your statements. This type of situation can only be handled by the larger and more specialized agencies.

[Let's Roll]

Well said.

[mr.sarcastic]

The guy's in over his head. That happens. Cops take these "sleepy burb" gigs to have all the positive emotions of being a cop (helping the citizens etc.) and not get shot at all the time like big city cops. The big city just landed in his lap. Give him a chance to adjust, the big dogs are there to help, they'll do what they can, at some point they'll catch the bad guy, everything will be fine.

Have no fear, Chief Ramsey himself is on the job!! He's the local "big city" cop... and what a resume! He certainly cleared up that whole Chandra Levy mess like a pro. Let's put him in charge... then we'll have this thing solved by... oh.... 2015.

[semaj]

"Open season on swarthy-looking Middle Eastern types?????????"

Maybe. The trouble I have with that solution is that at first glance you may mistake me for a swarthy-looking Middle Easter type. If you cared to, you would find that I am an American, born and raised and deserving of a smidgeon of respect, voluntarily offered or forced if need be. So, what's it going to be, open season (civil war) or perhaps a more selective choice of targets?

[speekinout]

Chief Moose has shown himself to be a very human and caring professional who has done a great job, IMO, of organizing a daunting effort.

I'm glad to see some defense of Chief Moose here. He is Chief in a county that has maybe 25 murders/year, and there were 5 in one day. Of course he doesn't have the staff with skills to investigate that! He was quick to ask for help from the FBI, ATF, State Troopers, and anyone else who could help - as he should have, IMO.
He's also feeding the news media as much as he can.

I think he's doing everything right. Unfortunately, that doesn't guarantee a quick arrest.

[Logic_3]

I must admit that I did find Chief Moose's statement, "This time it's personal", to be ill-chosen. (After 5 people had already died he shouldn't be reaching to quote Die Hard or Lethal Weapon movies in order to express his further outrage when a child was shot.)

I blame Hollywood.

[Southack]

"A serious attack (bioweapon or u-235 gun) will result in military check points on all major roads and a suspension of that pesky Constitution once and for all."

Due to the poor military nature of bioweapons, we're unlikely to see any bio scenarios that are much more serious than the previous anthrax attacks.

And I don't remember any military checkpoints or Constitution-burning orgies even after anthrax hit Senators' offices.

A rogue nuke attack, on the other hand, would be more serious but almost certainly directed at a port due to a variety of technical and logistical factors. Road blocks and a dead Constitution would hardly prevent that sort of thing, so I doubt that we see them even if we are hit by such an attack.

But ship-boardings would certainly become more routine and much more thorough...

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Tell this to the family of the 13 year old who has lost part of his stomach and pancreas and then wonder how they feel!!

Huh? I was not commenting on the job that was being done by Chief Moose. I'll leave that to others closer to the situation, such as yourself. My only point was that it was unfortunate that he chose to use the Hollywood line, "This time it's personal". Tell the families of those who were killed prior to the shooting of this thirteen year-old that it wasn't "personal" until this incident.

[Fred Mertz]

I wonder if there's any chance of the federal death penalty in this case.

Somehow, if he shot across a federal roadway or possibly his crossing state lines could make it a federal offense. I'm sure the feds will find a way to prosecute him and that's assuming he's taken alive which I highly doubt will happen.

[DCPatriot]

"Your ridiculous ramblings are just criticisms with not one word as how you would handle things differently"

"...It's just a lot easier that way."

Stolen right out of the "Democratic Socialist Left"'s Playbook.

[MarthaNOStewart]

In your post you call these "mass murders"...that is wrong. It is "serial" murders. A mass murder is when more than three people are killed at same time, same place. Serial murders are murders committed at different place, individually, at different times.
As for criticizing law enforcement, just remember they are holding back information, as they should, that only the sniper would know. Besides this is a difficult case, and you aren't helping by "putting down dedicated men and women" who are doing their best to solve this.

[MarthaNOStewart]

That's why I love Texas.

[MarthaNOStewart]

Who said he was quoting anything! IMO you are making judgements you know nothing about. It could just be that shooting a child touched something in the man. Where do yo get off making such a broad statement.
Blame Hollywood if you want, but I blame the man/woman with the gun that is doing the shooting.

[Aquinasfan]

These bastards are ASASSINS

Or simply murderers. Good point.

[tracer]

Unfortunately and to a certain extent, I am an unwilling member of that class of critters -- thanks to liberals and other demagogues consider us to be peasants and who, to various degrees, have made "mushrooms" (kept in the dark and covered with s#^&) of us all. No offense intended...

[tracer]

I absolutely agree. Nobody should fault Chief Moose and others for their efforts to solve these crimes, but the public -- an especially children -- are ill-served by the efforts of the mediawhores to convince all within the sounds of their voices that they inevitably are sitting ducks.

I and my fellow Merryland subjects are much more at risk of getting creamed by a truck or a Yugo on the Beltway, stabbed near a DC nightspot, developing a serious or even fatal illness, or, last but not least, being rear-ended and killed by a SUV-charioteer scanning the streets for the elusive "white box-truck".

Tragic as these shootings are, 800,000 people live in Montgomery county alone, and of all those living in the DC metro area, less than ten have been shot down by a vile goblin during the past five days.

We all would do well to "do the math" and realize that everyday life has many risks -- day after day, and year after year -- and that such will be the case long after the sociopathic jackal has been sent to Hell....

[tracer]

Well-spoken. Thanks, neighbor....

[tracer]

Title III of the "Child Protection and Sexual Predator Punishment Act of 1998" allows for "federal investigation of serial murder offenses when the offender crosses State lines with the intent to commit first-degree murder."

It also mandates the reorganization of the Morgan P. Hardiman Missing and Exploited Children’s Task Force "to improve its effectiveness in kidnaping and serial murder investigations. The task force would be simplified through the establishment of regional task forces in FBI field offices which would serve as liaisons for State and local law enforcement agencies in cases of child abduction and serial murders."

Unfortunately, the Act does not address the punishment of serial killers....

[Chemist_Geek]

And I don't remember any military checkpoints or Constitution-burning orgies even after anthrax hit Senators' offices.

A rogue nuke attack, on the other hand, would be more serious but almost certainly directed at a port due to a variety of technical and logistical factors. Road blocks and a dead Constitution would hardly prevent that sort of thing, so I doubt that we see them even if we are hit by such an attack.

Well, I wonder about government officials. Instead of fixing the problem, sometimes they are more interested in appearing like they're fixing the problem.