New sniper note as deadline passes

MSNBC ^ | Oct. 23, 2002 | MSNBC

[jgrubbs]

ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 23 — As Washington area parents weighed whether to send their kids to school Wednesday, sniper investigators assessed a note left at Tuesday’s shooting scene that reportedly repeats an earlier demand for a $10 million payment. Sources told NBC News that the demand included a deadline and that Tuesday’s fatal shooting came after it had passed without payment. Parents were particularly on edge after a note found Saturday stated: “Your children are not safe anywhere at any time.”

Full Story: http://www.msnbc.com/news/816566.asp

[InvisibleChurch]

hope this helps

[Nexus]

Interesting tidbits:

"You indicated that this is about more than violence. We are waiting to hear from you."

"The sources added that the Saturday letter included a deadline to pay, and that Tuesday’s slaying came after the deadline had passed without payment."

"The angry letter also berated police as “incompetent” and listed six calls to the sniper task force that had been “ignored,” The Washington Post reported."

[xzins]

Don't pay. Period.

[sharktrager]

ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 23 — As Washington-area parents weighed whether to send their kids to school Wednesday, sniper investigators assessed a note left at Tuesday’s shooting scene that reportedly repeats an earlier demand for a $10 million payment. Sources told NBC News that the demand included a deadline and that Tuesday’s fatal shooting came after it had passed without payment. Parents were particularly on edge after a note found Saturday stated: “Your children are not safe anywhere at any time.”

October 23 — Schools in northern Virginia reopened under tight security after being closed for two days. Mark Edwards, school superintendent for Henrico County, speaks with ``Today’s’’ Ann Curry.
THE REPORT of a new note came from The Baltimore Sun, which cited unidentified sources as saying police found it at Tuesday’s shooting in Aspen Hill, Md. It reportedly restated a demand — first made in a letter left at a shooting in Ashland, Va., on Saturday — that $10 million be wired to a domestic bank account.
Sources close to the investigation confirmed the report to NBC’s David Bloom.
The sources added that the Saturday letter included a deadline to pay, and that Tuesday’s slaying came after the deadline had passed without payment.
A Maryland bus driver died in that attack, and police suspect it was another sniper shooting.
Late Tuesday, Charles Moose, police chief of Montgomery County and the sniper task force coordinator, called a news conference to relay a message that underscored reports of a demand for money.
“In the past several days, you have attempted to communicate with us,” Moose said. “We have researched the option you stated and found that it is not possible electronically to comply in the manner you requested. However, we remain open and ready to talk to you about the options you have mentioned. It is important that we do this without anyone else getting hurt.”
“Call us at the same number you used before to obtain the 800 number you have requested,” Moose continued. “If you would feel more comfortable, a private P.O. box number, or another secure method can be provided. You indicated that this is about more than violence. We are waiting to hear from you.”
At a news conference earlier Tuesday, Moose confirmed that a note was left at Saturday’s shooting and that it included a postscript that stated: “Your children are not safe anywhere at any time.”
The angry letter also berated police as “incompetent” and listed six calls to the sniper task force that had been “ignored,” The Washington Post reported.
Sources told Bloom that authorities waited three days to publicly reveal the sniper’s latest threat against children because the shooter had explicitly warned investigators not to release the note’s contents, threatening more violence.
But late Tuesday they decided that with the sniper having possibly claimed his 10th murder victim in less than three weeks, the public had a right to know as much as they did.

MANY SCHOOLS OPEN

On Wednesday morning, Washington-area parents had that threat in mind when they decided whether to send their kids to school.
One Ashland, Va., mother, Kim Arthur, said she was a little scared, but added: “We can’t keep our kids from doing what they usually do” because that would scare kids even more.
Police were stationed at schools in the area, as school officials said they felt keeping schools open could be safer than leaving children at home unattended by working parents.
Still, schools were allowing parents who want to keep their children home to do so as an excused absence.


BUS DRIVER KILLED

Oct. 22 — A married father of two children was killed Tuesday in Aspen Hill, Md., possibly the latest victim of the Washington-area sniper. NBC’s David Bloom reports.

In Tuesday’s killing, bus driver Conrad Johnson was shot in the chest as he prepared his bus for his morning run. Johnson, a 10-year Montgomery County employee, was 35, married and father of two children.
Moose called the shooting “very similar” to the sniper attacks, and said ballistics tests would be done to compare the bullet’s caliber to those in the confirmed sniper shootings.
“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, different times, different days and different locations,” Moose said.
Capt. Nancy Demme of the Montgomery County Police Department told reporters that investigators were interviewing several witnesses, but it was not clear whether they saw the shooter.
Police put a dragnet into place immediately after the shooting, clogging traffic on Connecticut Avenue, one of the main arteries into Washington, D.C., just as the morning commute began.
The shooting, which happened before sunrise about 6 a.m. ET, was next to an apartment building and wooded area in Aspen Hill.
Drivers often park their buses there as they get ready for their morning runs. The location, 15 miles north of downtown Washington, is near six of the confirmed sniper attacks.

EARLIER CALL GARBLED
Investigators on Monday indicated that the person who left Saturday’s note had tried to contact them in a phone call that was too garbled to understand. And they pleaded with the person to call back.
Sources told Bloom that the person called police using a disguised voice that was only about 25 percent audible. Two phone lines known only to that person have been set up and are being routed to the sniper task force, Bloom added.
Law enforcement sources told The Washington Post that police believe they have spoken to the letter writer by phone at least twice.
The sources said police believe the caller is the sniper because information either from the phone calls or the letter indicates intimate knowledge of the tarot card left Oct. 7 at a shooting scene in Bowie, Md.
The Post’s sources said that at least once the male caller said, “I am God” — a reference to the publicly disclosed words on a tarot card found at the scene of a shooting in Bowie, Md.
The sources added that the letter found Saturday was at least three pages long.
The Los Angeles Times reported that unidentified federal agents said the letter was poorly worded, bordering on broken English.

RELAYING TIPS
If Tuesday’s shooting is confirmed as the work of the sniper, that would raise the number of people killed to 10. Three others have been critically wounded.
Investigators on Saturday started using Army spy aircraft on loan from the Pentagon, The Post reported. The aircraft have sophisticated infrared radar but there has been no word on what if any impact they have had so far.
The reward for information leading to capture of the killer stands at more than $500,000.
Authorities have established a hot line — 1-888-324-9800 — for any tips but said they were still overwhelmed and urged only callers with specific leads to call. People with non-urgent information should submit tips online at www.fbi.gov/sniper/sniper.htm.
People can also write in with tips to P.O. Box 7875, Gaithersburg, Md. 20898-7875.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

[jgrubbs]

MSNBC articles have to be exccerpted on FreeRepublic, that is why I didnt post the whole article, I don't want Jim to get another lawsuit.

[Corin Stormhands]

"The angry letter also berated police as “incompetent” and listed six calls to the sniper task force that had been “ignored,” The Washington Post reported."

Every time I see Chief Moose on tv I think "Doomed. We're all doomed..."

[eno_]

Amy Moose defenders want to show their faces here are speak up for the guy? Tell us how he is going as well as possible? Tell us why we should trust the LEAs?

THIS is what we get when we hand out Ph.D.s to people like Chief Moose. THIS is what we get from dumbing down and affirmative action. We get innocent dead people. And we may get them in the millions if we don't shape up fast.

[eno_]

That should read "Any."

[Salvation]

A Call to Prayer for Washington D. C., Maryland and Virginia area families, residents and law enforcement personnel.

Please add a prayer to the thread and help keep it bumped to the top.

[Imal]

Moose is almost certainly acting as a mouthpiece for the Feds, who have a track record of stepping in and running shows like this. The messages Moose reads don't sound like they're composed by him.

Personally, I think they're using Moose as a front man to make the sniper(s) think a "local yokel" is running the show and thus underestimate the extet of this operation. Think in terms of Sheriff Marge Gunderson in the movie "Fargo", except with over a thousand feds behind the scenes calling the plays. I'm sure Moose understands the tactic and is playing ball with the heavy federal hitters that have been called in on this case.

FBI and DoD? I doubt Moose is telling THEM what to do!

[contessa machiaveli]

i'm a moose defender, he's the spokesman, that's all. it's obvious that the investigation is managed by the feds, the crimes crossed state lines. so lets blame the FBI, ATF, etc. they cannot keep us safe...isn't that the only job guaranteed by the constitution.

[M. Peach]

My opinion is that the officer who answered the sniper's call and hung up, did it intentionally to buy time to track him, knowing that he would call back.

It gave the police the opportunity to close in on him.

[The Duke]

i'm a moose defender, he's the spokesman...

I beg to differ...this ia America after all. Moose is the "fall guy", not the "spokesman".

[Hatteras]

"...they cannot keep us safe..."

The police are not there to keep you safe, they are there to clean up and fill out a report. If you want safety, you, the collective public, need to go out and enforce it.

[eno_]

To hell with them all. Moose adds insult to injury. But you are right: All the ninja suits and MP5s, and what do we get? So far, the dead kids at Waco outnumber the sniper's toll.

[sinkspur]

Amy Moose defenders want to show their faces here are speak up for the guy? Tell us how he is going as well as possible? Tell us why we should trust the LEAs?

Yea.

Unless you're on the Sniper Task Force, you speak from total ignorance.

But, then, that's never stopped you before.

[lelio]

THIS is what we get from dumbing down and affirmative action.
Well tell us what a good white police chief would do.

[wimpycat]

THIS is what we get when we hand out Ph.D.s to people like Chief Moose. THIS is what we get from dumbing down and affirmative action. We get innocent dead people. And we may get them in the millions if we don't shape up fast.

You're blaming a serial killer on "dumbing down and affirmative action"? Because Chief Moose is black, and because he isn't handling his end of the investigation exactly the way you think he should, you feel it necessary to turn this into an argument against affirmative action? Do you really believe if "token" blacks head up murder investigations they are responsible when the killer isn't immediately tracked down? I want to make sure I understand you correctly, because you have introduced a racial component into your complaint about the investigation, by mentioning affirmative action and "dumbing down".

I'll tell you one thing. I trust that the LEO's know alot more how to handle a delicate situation like this than you do. We're not watching Dragnet here. This is real life, and real life situations never go as smoothly as they do on TV. They know a lot more about this killer than they are telling us, and there may very well be a valid reason for why they are doing what they are doing?

So the hell what that the killer was blown off when he called the tip hotline? Do you honestly believe that if he had been taken more seriously, that he wouldn't have shot the bus driver? This killer is going to shoot wherever he wants and whenever he wants, and put the blame for his crime on anybody but himself. It's not the LEO's fault that the bus driver or anybody else has been killed.

[PleaseNoMore]

You know what? I will defend the man. I sit here and read all of the criticisms that are thrown at this man and it is rather disheartening. It is so easy for you, me or anyone to sit where we are saying what we would do or to point out what others are doing wrong, isn't it?

The last I heard, there have been shooting in counties other than the one that Moose is in. There is a JOINT task force working on this case. It isn't Moose working it alone so do not attempt to lay the blame for everything at this man's feet.

You and I do not know what Moose is doing or not doing nor his reasons for either. Instead of repeatedly condemning this man ( whose shoes we are NOT wearing ), we should all be praying for him and the others involved in the investigation. This ordeal has been going on for nearly a month and I am sure that this man is exhausted as are the other members of his team and the joint task force.

The next time you or anyone feels like adding some criticism stop for a moment and say a prayer for these folks instead and be grateful that the weight they have on their shoulders hasn't fallen squarely on your own.