Another DC-area sniper-style shooting

Wife (FReeper nina0113) | October 4, 2002 | Steve0113

[Steve0113]

Another broad-daylight shooting just occurred, this time in Fredericksburg, VA, just off I-95. It's not even on the news yet.

About an hour's drive south of where the Montgomery County shootings happened, a woman was shot in the parking lot of a Michaels fabric store. My wife was in the store at the time. The victim had left the store and carried her purchases to her minivan. She unlocked the minivan and was loading her stuff into it when she was shot. No sign of the shooter.

No one else was injured.

The woman was taken away in an ambulance, condition unknown. Her license plate (which I'm not going to post) indicated that she had several children.

[Diddle E. Squat]

What day did the anthrax attack first take place? Wasn't it about a year ago?

Of course this could have absolutely nothing to do with anything, but just kinda brainstorming at the keyboard right now.

[Joe Hadenuf]

However, I'm guessing they'd be able to tell what kind of round it was by the type of exit wound this woman suffered.

Actually it would also depend on the type of ammo used....

[wardaddy]

I suppose if one lacks the credibility to be an attorney, one can always be a news anchor..lol....or run for the senate in NJ as a Dem.

[Dog]

Video on MSNBC of this shooting

[BlessingInDisguise]

I think that this is just as likely to be 'Son of Sam' style killer or killers as Islamic jihadists bent on terrorizing people. At this point there is no evidence so it's too early to say.

[Kathleen]

I don't think so, Dog. WMAL did an intro that mentioned two new shootings, then reported on the shooting last evening and the one in Fredericksburg this afternoon.

[fatima]

Thank God your wife is OK.

[RISU]

I disagree with your notion that it could be "amateur". It takes a certain kind of detachment to line up five targets from widely seperated stances over a many hours period. Whoever is shooting has not only good skill with the weapon, but detachment that comes from training and a stance that is strucuture to avoid detection. I don't see this as a "let have some fun" type of crime. This one was planned, and is being well exceuted.

[Fred Mertz]

Thanks for the eyewitness details. And hug your wife for me.

[MediaMole]

While there are .223 handguns, .223 is far less effective out of shorter barrels. It needs to be around 3000fps to have the kind of effectiveness for the one-shot kills of yesterday. That usually requires a 20+ inch barrel.

Personally, I would be looking for someone with a scoped bolt action rifle or possibly an accurate ar-15 clone.

[r9etb]

Video on MSNBC of this shooting

Can you give us any details?

[Teacup]

I was just there! Only we were at the Red Lobster side at around 11AM. OMG! Prayers indeed.

[wardaddy]

Bad time to bring it up....but you should consider becoming a "gun person".

I am very very happy for your family and that your wife is ok. My wife is a full time mom with children too and frequents the exposure of parking lots daily doing her business. This one strikes home to all of us.

G-d bless your family.

[Dog]

Just showing the parking lot from a news chooper...

[onedoug]

Islamism.

[Dog]

chopper

[Joe Hadenuf]

I am starting to agree, the longer the perps get away with this, the more it doesn't seem that this is a garden varity nut job......

[js1138]

But I think it could be PETA. or Earth First. Anyone willing to kill loggers wouldn't have any trouble shooting a mom in front of her children. by the way, was she driving an SUV?

[SteveH]

.223 was intentionally designed by the military to wound, not kill. In my opinion, fatal single shots from 150 yards + indicates a certain amount of discipline and expertise.

The ar15.com site mentions a bullet hole in a window that is too big to have come from a .223 round.

The sniper(s) dumped the large white van by now, too hot. Actually, I agree that a large white van probably was not used to begin with, since it is different enough to be relatively easy to spot in a neighborhood should the sniper have had the bad luck to be profiled.

Seems to me, a regular van or SUV would work just fine.

The MO is terrorism of soccer-parent central Eastern seaboard. The most obvious political agenda is the need by the gun grabbers for Congress to pass a bill continuing the '94 Assault Weapon Ban. The primary target of the Assault Weapon Ban was the AR-15 and clones in .223 caliber.

GWB has stated on record that he'll sign a continuance of the '94 AWB if it reaches his desk. As of before these shootings started, it did not look likely that any such bill would have made it past either next year's Senate or House.

So: these shootings are as if they were tailormade to hand losing Democrat members of Congress across the country an issue out of the blue that could rescue their campaigns and throw projected control of Congress back to the Democrats in the next session.

The AR15 has been around since the Vietnam War. Sniper rifles have been around since the Revolutionary War. There have not been many (if any) cases of random sniper terrorism. The question is why now? The underlying question needs to be who benefits?

(And these are the kinds of questions the FBI does not seem to be asking...)

[aristeides]

A citizen who was nearby says he saw a light color, new, mid-sized car, possibly grey or silver, moving quicly towards the mall. Police say they are on the look out for this vehicle, and they are asking anyone who has any information to please contact them.

Well, if a different vehicle is being used now, that says very little about whether today's shooting is by the same perps and/or is part of the same plot.