Maryland Sniper Shootings-FR Commentary

Fox, CNN, Press Conferences | October 9, 2002 | Fox, CNN, Press Conferences

[Peach]

Another press conference due soon. To avoid multiple vanity threads regarding any news that comes from press conferences, thought we'd keep a live commentary thread going again today.

[Terriergal]

"I am God" would be outrageous blasphemy to a Muslim.

Yeah but you can lie to an infidel and it's ok...so maybe he was 'just doing it for effect.'

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

What if all of this "Tarot Card" information has been made up to keep the people calm in the wake of an important election and a less than desireable economy? After all, we never really heard much about the gunman at LAX, the radioactive tanker off the east coast, and they tried to pass the plane crash after September 11th off as an accident where an ENGINE just decided to fall off a plane.

I think the government is trying to keep the sheep calm. Maybe some of these disasters can be linked to terrorism, maybe all, maybe none. I don't think we'll ever really know....to be honest.

[antivenom]

CYBER HIGH FIVE!!! I'll ping ya in the future...you want to also get in some other of my observations?

The sniper is using an ONLINE mapping service...Mapquest or YahooMaps whatever...he does his homework in advance...he may go to parks acting as tho he is "bird watching" with binoculars or a scope. He will appear "normal". He may even walk a dog or throw a frisbee and "scout" the parks.

He is MORE interested in the "Cat and mouse" game...in order of the events and the actions...

He enjoys "spying" through the scope MORE than the shooting

Shooting is the "final calling card" the activities UP to the shooting are ritualistic...MORE important to him than the actually killing/maiming of the people.

He is watching and listening to the news with the vim and vigor of a s^&t eating dog.

The activities LEADING to the actual shooting will RULE out fingerprints on a casing...he is very "ritualistic"...his preparations prior very very calculated...there will be NO prints and IF there are...they will NOT be his...could be a family members'...

[antivenom]

Was raised Catholic and in Maryland...the Michael's store and the Gates of Heaven were SCREAMING at me when I saw it...

[ZinGirl]

What's all this I keep hearing about Michael's? I take it's a store in America?

Michael's is an arts & crafts store in the area....some are wondering if Mr. Sick Nutbag is thinking of a more "heavenly" Michael and just using the craft store as a way to 'identify' or as a symbol...and also wondering about the two shootings that took place at the 'Gates of Heaven' cemetary.

[Terriergal]

Far too much maturity and shooting talent for the perp to be young.

Generally speaking, yes, but I can see some kid who you know, perhaps got a little too into the 1st person shooter games, translating it over into real life. Or just read a few too many sniper stories and imagined up a cause to motivate himself. It doesn't take much training in the way of marksmanship. It takes more mental discipline to figure out where to be, to sit still, etc...to be patient and wait... but I can imagine an older teenager doing it, given the right mindset and a huge chip on his shoulder.

[xsrdx]

I tend to agree with the Navy Sniper I heard on TV yesterday saying you could just about train a monkey to do this kind of thing accurately.

Whatever - this untrained monkey killed 5 people with a single shot using a small caliber firearm, at various ranges and without detection.

Sounds to me like the "expert" was confusing the mechanical ability to make the shot - agreed, not difficult - with the ability to do it repeatedly, under pressure, and under a variety of circumstances, without even BEING OBSERVED. That's a pretty disciplined individual.

[P7M13]

possibly, but if the death card is seen as a symbol, then it could become I am God "'s hand of death". Very jihad.

t

[kaylar]

Michael's is an arts and crafts store. Actually, it's 90% crafts, 9% overpriced flimsy furniture, and 1% art supplies-I go there for the 1%, as there simply aren't enough art supply sources in west central Mo for me to be picky. The customers are IMO absolutely average : The racial breakdown seems to be in line with the population in the areas where the stores are located. The income level seems to be $25,000-75,000. Not upscale but not 'dollar store', either. Just completely average.

[antivenom]

No I think the Tarot card is evidence he is an avid reader...he will be a avid computer user...he is very crafty...he is enjoying the NEWS and the FRUSTRATION of the police department...he will stop shooting for a few days...he is TAUNTING the police...people need to understand he is not interested in killing people AS MUCH as playing G-d and looking through a SCOPE and picking the person to "relay the message" with. The shot people are the "calling card" the RITUAL is the planning, picking the spot to fire from, waiting and finding the victim, all of that is more important to HIM than "pulling the trigger".

The end result isn't another dead or maimed person...it is the "reaction" from the police...

[antivenom]

Wink and a smile....no prob!

[areafiftyone]

The end result isn't another dead or maimed person...it is the "reaction" from the police...

Exactly what I think. Chief Moose should not give press conferences every morning unless something happens. He is much too emotional for this every day. He seems to be a very caring individual but this guy is feeding off of that. This guy doesn not like cops is definately some home grown nutcase.

[EverOnward]

Like buzzards to the kill, the Maryland politicians can't get enough face time out of this. Listening to McCluck-cluck-clucksy inflicting her pious sermon on the populace now. They can't keep their traps shut!!! I feel sorry for the professional (fed) LEOs that are trying to do their job with this pack of wolves.

[wildandcrazyrussian]

Just thought of something regarding control of sound in this scenario, since people seem to be assuming the need to keep the noise partially outside a truck. What if there were two people, one being a driver and the other being a deaf person (shooter) inside a mostly-closed back of a truck, with only a small opening needed for aiming out. Then it wouldn't matter how loud it was, if there is no hearing left to damage. It might even make it easier to concentrate, for all I know.

[relee]

Someone should tell her it's Chief Moose, not Chief Muse.

[vollmond]

There was some speculation earlier that the sniper was a college student, and was home with his parents all weekend. After this tarot card info, I think he might have spent the weekend at the Maryland Ren Fest.

[Lil'freeper]

The customers are IMO absolutely average.

Good description. I would add that the customers are also overwhelmingly women. Although, given the mix of victims I doubt this is significant.

[areafiftyone]

Fox News was mentioning that they only focused on the truck scenario because one happened to be there at the time. It might turn out that this guy doesn't even have a truck or wasn't even in the truck. They were saying that the police have no proof that this guy was in a truck.

[_Jim]

the plane crash after September 11th off as an accident where an ENGINE just decided to fall off a plane.

Get your facts straight - it was the plane's *tail* that experienced some sort of structural failure and 'fell off' ...

[John H K]

Boy, people are desperate for this guy to be a Muslim Terrorist.

As noted by a previous poster, claiming YOU are God is really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY sacriligeous in Islam, more so even than in traditional Christianity. They even consider the whole Father/Son/Holy Spirit thing in most forms of Christianity to be pretty pagan and suspect; Islam is about THE most Monotheistic religion there is, and the absolute MOST important tenet is "There is NO God BUT God."

Of course, if you REALLY want to believe something you can spin it either way; we've got people (absurdly) trying to claim a Tarot Card with "I am God" on it is consistent with an Islamic terrorist, and then people claiming that, because it's SO inconsistent with a Muslim terrorist, that it's the perfect deception.


If one thinks over the history of terrorism, deliberately going out of one's way trying to make it look like it ISN'T terrorism or is done by someone else is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, rare.