Posted on 10/24/2002 11:01:23 AM PDT by ilgipper
Gulf War Vet, Teen-Ager Held in Sniper Case
By Mark Wilkinson
ROCKVILLE, Md. (Reuters) - A Gulf War (news - web sites) veteran and a teen-ager were arrested on Thursday in the sniper case that has terrorized the Washington area, as investigators fanned out across the country to search for evidence.
Government sources identified the men as former U.S. soldier John Allen Muhammad, who served in the 1991 Gulf War, and John Lee Malvo, 17. Media reports said Malvo was Muhammad's stepson.
The two were not immediately charged in the sniper case, although Muhammad was charged with violating U.S. gun laws.
However, law enforcement officials were working on the presumption that these were suspects in the shooting attacks that killed 10 people and injured three in Maryland, Virginia and the U.S. capital since Oct. 2.
A rifle was found in the car where the two were arrested in rural Maryland, a law enforcement source said. Media reports said the rifle fired .223 caliber bullets, which were the same kind of ammunition used on the sniper's victims.
The car was loaded onto a truck and moved to Montgomery County, where the massive investigation into the shootings has been based.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed," a Justice Department (news - web sites) official said when asked if the men in custody were believed to be the snipers. Another official said: "We are being very very cautious about this. But it certainly looks good. We're optimistic."
President Bush (news - web sites) was briefed on the dramatic overnight developments and was told "there are a lot of arrows pointing" to them as responsible for the sniper attacks, according to an official traveling with the president in North Carolina.
But spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said in receiving the "latest facts" in the case, the White House was given no conclusion.
Douglas Gansler, the state's attorney in Montgomery County, told WTOP radio: "There's a strong feeling these people are related to the sniper shootings."
Asked if he believed the sniper was still at large, Gansler said, "No."
SEARCHING IN ALABAMA, WASHINGTON STATE
Law officers were pursuing leads in Alabama, where Malvo was linked to a robbery and murder outside a liquor store on Sept. 21, and in Washington state, near where Muhammad had been stationed during his military career and where both detainees were known to be living earlier this year.
Police Chief John Wilson of Montgomery, Alabama, said there were "very good similarities" between a police sketch of Malvo and the suspect in the killing in his city, but added that the bullet used in Alabama was not the same .223 ammunition as those used in the sniper spree.
Federal officials issued a search warrant for an unspecified target in Alabama, which they would not identify. They also were searching hotels in Washington on the supposition that the suspects had been on the move during the sniping siege.
On Wednesday, FBI (news - web sites) agents searched a property in Tacoma, Washington state, going minutely over a grassy yard and carting away a tree stump that may have been used for target practice. They also made inquiries about the two men in the nearby city of Bellingham.
Bellingham Police Chief Randy Carroll said the two suspects were "known to be together" in Bellingham, and Malvo had said he was staying there to complete high school, but his earlier school transcripts could not be found.
"It appears that these people who have been taken into custody are not acting with any group. ... It appears that they have acted on their own," Carroll told a news conference.
Muhammad served in the Army under his previous name of John Allen Williams, based at Fort Lewis in Washington state and Fort Ord, California, before leaving in the mid-1990s after about 10 years.
THREE-WEEK REIGN OF TERROR
Government sources said he was not trained as a sniper, but had been a mechanic. The sources, who asked not to be identified, declined to discuss the circumstances under which he left the Army.
The two detainees were arrested around 3:30 a.m. EDT in Maryland, about 60 miles northwest of Washington, as they slept in a car that matched a description given out by police just hours earlier.
Law enforcement teams surrounded the car parked at a rest stop along an interstate highway. The two were taken into custody without incident.
The sniper or snipers appeared to strike at random for three weeks, targeting people performing such ordinary tasks as pumping gasoline, mowing a lawn or waiting for a bus. The victims were men, women and one 13-year-old boy, who was critically injured outside his school. All were felled with a single shot.
The suspected sniper communicated with authorities by telephone, letter and by leaving a Tarot "Death" card with the words "I am God" at the scene of the boy's shooting.
Late Wednesday Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose responded to one communication in a televised briefing.
"You asked us to say 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.' We understand that hearing us say this is important to you," Moose said. "However we want you to know how difficult it has been to understand what you want."
Police would not confirm media reports that the sniper left at least two communications at the shooting scenes asking for $10 million to stop the slayings.
That would explain fast get-a-ways.
Walt
At work. Pure rumor. That is why I wanted confirmation.
Walt
this is being reported on CNN website
Talk about wading through BS.
Sit back and enjoy the show everyone...
Liberalism of every stripe is slitting it's own throat. Democrats breaking a million and 1 laws, preparing to try and actually steal elections...dont worry they'll reap what they sow. Media types already have suffered a standing eight count from FOXNEWS' right-cross. Excuse makers for terrorist on the back row as we invade Iraq and embark on rebuilding the middle east. The EU full of socialist economies being propped up by Enron style accounting deception and subterfuge...soon they wont be able to hold the line and they'll collapse under their own weight.
These are good times my friend.
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