22-Caliber Rifle Used in W.Va. Slayings

AP/Yahoo ^ | 8/20/03 | AP Staff

[Pro-Bush]

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Ballistic tests show a .22-caliber rifle was used in last week's separate sniper-style slayings of two people outside of rural convenience stores, police said. Tests were incomplete on the third victim.

Kanawha County Chief Deputy Phil Morris said it also appears that the two shootings were drug related.

Ballistics tests showed Jeanie Patton, 31, and Okey Meadows Jr., 26, were killed Aug. 14 by the same weapon, Morris said during a news conference.

The two Campbells Creek residents were shot from 50 yards to 75 yards away.

Tests were incomplete on the bullet that killed 44-year-old Gary Carrier Jr. four days earlier while he was making a telephone call outside a Charleston convenience store.

However, Morris said the characteristics of the bullet found in the Charleston shooting is similar to those of the bullets in the other two shootings.

Police also released enhanced photographs of a Ford F-150 extended cap pickup similar to a vehicle that eyewitnesses to the Campbells Creek shootings have described as being at the scene. No vehicle has been identified in the Charleston shooting.

Super Software, an Australian video company, has provided images of the pickup that were enhanced to represent nighttime conditions to help spark additional information from potential eyewitnesses. The company also produced images of the white vehicle police originally sought in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings last year.

[Pro-Bush]

A .22 huh? What does this say about this so-called sniper?

[RogueIsland]

Sigh. It would be nice if they specified: .22 short, .22 long rifle, .22 magnum, .223...

[WorkingClassFilth]

He has developed a flinching problem with center-fire weapons?

[lawdude]

"It would be nice if they specified: .22 short, .22 long rifle, .22 magnum, .223..."

If you posed the question to the reporter, I will bet $100 he/she wouldn't have a friggin clue as to what you were talking about!

[hoosierboy]

Its gotta be a .223, I dont just don't think the sniper could be lucky to pop off 3 people with a .22lr with one shot.

Probably some dumb reporter who didn't do their research.

[dirtboy]

. The company also produced images of the white vehicle police originally sought in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings last year.

And we all know how effective THAT was in stopping the snipers.

[ko_kyi]

I am shocked a reporter/talking head doesn't suggest investigating anyone in WV who bought .22 ammo :)

[Joe Brower]

I'm betting a .223. This would jive with the rest of the M.O. of this copycat criminal that the leftmedia has created.

[from occupied ga]

I am shocked a reporter/talking head doesn't suggest investigating anyone in WV who bought .22 ammo

Give it time. Some moron will suggest this along with barrel fingerprints, FOID cards to buy ammo and just about every other thing on the Brady/Kennedy/Schumer/Feinstein/Bush gun control wish list.

[Myrddin]

An examination of the weight, form factor and jacket characteristics would expose much about the cartridge type. Most .22LR is round nose, 40 gr with a noticed cupped tail associated with the rimfire casing and a light copper guilding or no copper at all. A .223 rifle tends to use 55 gr spitzer with a flat or boat tail and a heavy copper jacket.

Typical .223 bullet

Typical .22 rimfire cartridges.

[Pro-Bush]

Its gotta be a .223, I dont just don't think the sniper could be lucky to pop off 3 people with a .22lr with one shot.

I agree

[Seamus Mc Gillicuddy]

Sigh. It would be nice if they specified: .22 short, .22 long rifle, .22 magnum, .223...

NO, NO, NO! To the media, any .22 cal is bad. I'm surprised they didn't call it an ".22 cal automatic machine gun sniper assault rifle." Can't let facts get in the way of their reporting, now, can we?

[Shooter 2.5]

My favorite story was the gangbanger types who walked into my friend's gunshop and scooped up some .223 bullets and placed them on the counter next to the register. My friend asked them if that's exactly what they wanted. They said yes.

I wish my friend would have just let them buy them while explaining there were no refunds. He didn't. He asked them if they reloaded and then told them what they were trying to buy. They left without buying anything.

[cryptical]

Maybe they should just go ahead, and ban everything as large or larger than this "high-powered, man-killing, sniper rifle".

What would anyone need with a rifle that could kill someone with a single bullet? One shot, one kill indeed.

There's probably a racist, sexist and homophobic subculture formed around weapons of this type.

Irregardless of the wisdom of a ban, remember, it's for the children
.

[latrans]

I wouldn't want to take a 22 magnum in the skull, even from
100 yards.

[stevio]

So.... What were they trying to buy?

[from occupied ga]

it's for the children

Yes of course, not only that, but the reason that bans don't work is that they "don't go far enough" The reason that DC is the murder capital of the US is that Arlington VA (with 1/15th of the DC murder rate) doesn't ban guns. Ask any anti-gun bureaucrat, ask Moose. They'll all tell you that with a straight face.

[meandog]

Its gotta be a .223, I dont just don't think the sniper could be lucky to pop off 3 people with a .22lr with one shot.

I couldn't disagree more...I once witnessed a 300-pound feral hog taken down by a .22lr. It is especially good caliber at close range (ask anyone who owns an North American 5-shot watch pocket pistol)

[VoiceOfBruck]

or a 22-250. Boom!

[DocRock]

Could have also been a centerfire .22 Hornet

http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~bkhornet/22hornet_files/wcf+horn.jpg