FBI: Maryland shootings fit no category

World Net Daily ^ | 10/04/02 | By Paul Sperry

[RaceBannon]

FRIDAY OCTOBER 4 2002

FBI: Maryland shootings fit no category Agency profilers can see no motive other than terrorism

Posted: October 4, 2002 3:10 p.m. Eastern

By Paul Sperry © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – It's not gang-banging. Or spree-shooting. Or armed robbery. And it's not a serial killer.

So what would motivate two assailants to randomly target five victims in a Maryland suburb, and possibly a sixth in D.C., killing each with a single shot from a high-powered rifle?

The calculated shootings, which took place Wednesday and Thursday, are like none that federal investigators have seen.

"If some sicko just wants to go out and essentially assassinate a bunch of random people – and he's not a terrorist – it's almost like a new category" of crime, said a veteran FBI agent.

The perpetrators aren't spree shooters, FBI profilers have concluded.

Typically, spree shooters are loners who snap one day and fire away until police appear and they come to their own violent end.

They typically seek revenge on an employer, such as the post office, or fellow students at a school. They come to the scene loaded with weapons, and take a stand, spraying victims with bullets.

But in this case, two men in a white van or "box truck" did not spray bullets, but picked targets, trained a rifle, or rifles, on their victims and aimed to kill, like trained assassins.

"In a spree shooting, there are usually a lot of people wounded," said one agent. "The shooter is not really taking time to aim."

"This is much more cold and calculated than the typical spree shooting," he said. "The victims were not wounded."

What's more, the sniper, or snipers, didn't take a stand, but sped off to avoid capture.

"This is different – they've taken great steps to avoid being apprehended," he added.

Authorities are said to have a description of the shooters but are not releasing it. They've reviewed video tapes from security cameras at some of the businesses where the shootings took place.

"The idea of terrorism is to spread fear," said one law enforcement officer. "If that's what they wanted to do, they've succeeded, because there's a lot of fear in the Washington area right now."

Related story:

Terror link to Maryland shootings? http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29178

Paul Sperry is Washington bureau chief for WorldNetDaily. © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

[stlnative]

If the shootings at the 2 Michael's Craft Stores are related. I think that the shooters are trying to send a message. Why go to 2 different Michael's and shoot at people? Why go to one Michael's Store and start the shooting spree and then go to another Michael's and shoot again?

I looked up the meaning of the name Michael and it mean's "Who is like God" and is of Hebrew origin. Is the perp's or perp trying to send a message?

I know it sounds off the wall, but again why pick 2 Michael's Craft Stores? (just some thoughts, especially if the perp or perp's are of middle eastern decent and this is a terrorist act.)

[Clean_Sweep]

"...and he's not a terrorist..." Oh, No, couldn't be. Oh, and thank goodness some of the victims were white, so it's not a hate crime either.

You guys have misunderstood the statement. This line is is saying if this person is not a terrorist then we have a new type blah blah blah.

They know it is a religion of love act, and don't want us to do our own round up.

[Sacajaweau]

Thoughts from the middle of the night:

These guys are operating on "I can see you but NO ONE can see me" which discounts a visible vehicle.

Anyone going away from the shooting would not be suspect because that would be a logical thing to do.

Now the question is...is there a weapon buried in a leaf pile close by and the guy eventually walked away without it after repositioning himself a couple of times and will ballistics say it is the same weapon for every hit or are we talking multiple shooters

Are we looking at a hiker?? as well as a marksman??

How would it be concealed??..Backpack??

Scenario: Guy gets dropped off a mile from the hit...walks with backpak into secluded area adjoining plaza...positions himself..makes the hit...walks another mile with backpack, positions himself...makes the hit, etc..We're assuming a vehicle connection at this point but the targets are close enough for hiking from point to point.

The switch to another area on the second day might call for a vehicle.

Can anyone here provide a map or addresses of the places where these hits were made??

Sac

[Sacajaweau]

I agree..there's a message. At one time I took one of Moussaoui's alias' and interpreted it as Black Beauty..and noticed he used black (but in a totally non-sensical fashion) in one of his publicised goofy dissertations before the court.

It may also be that the plaza layouts are duplicates...Building with parking lot in front with green space on three sides etc..??

Sac

[dennisw]

Thanks for this insightful post and the one about how rookies can be quickly trained to be snipers from 125 yards with a good rifle. Non moving target making it even easier in this situation. The last victim was gunned down while in a parking lot. Another while mowing the lawn.Both were out in the open.

I'l say one thing. The Wash DC area is a powerful magnet for immigrants of all kinds. Including Mooooooooslims. Even 15 years ago, visiting Bethesda Maryland, I was amazed at all the immigrant businesses on the main drag.

[stlnative]

I guess we will find out soon as there are Michael's all over the USA. If another shooting occurs at one soon again, then I would say that there is a pattern or meaning behind it (possibly the meaning of the store name might be the message) and the message is coming from someone that is not just a disgruntled scrapbooker, silk floral arranger, or general crafter ;-) (Goodnight... I am pooped and will not be shopping at ANY Michael's anytime soon...LOL!)

[stlnative]

Check CNN or Fox, they had maps and addresses

[stlnative]

One last comment... I do not believe they will just stop killing people. They are traveling and they are trying to send a message. I do not think they will slow down on killing people until they are cornered and shot by police or they shoot themselves because they are surrounded. Whoever it is has patience and enjoys the hunt and being hunted at the same time. I bet we will hear of more shootings of the same that are related sometime over the weekend.

[fone]

font size should have been 5, that'll teach me to *preview*

[muawiyah]

That's when they are "wearing colors". Now, when they are "working jobs" they live in Howard.

[muawiyah]

Smith's shootings also involved wrong time and wrong place. Then, there was the group at Danville, Illinois whose leader blew up his garage. They were into the same sort of stuff.

BTW, these guys can claim they have no Identity affiliation, but they have to prove it. All of them post the same stories on their websites. Although Morris Dees frequently fails to rise above the level of whale droppings, he does keep track of these guys and is fairly honest about their interrelationships. That's probably because he really does fear them, and as we are seeing around this area, they really are dangerous.

[muawiyah]

Regarding grunt shooting percentages, they all changed in Viet Nam. This is attributed to the development of the human silouette pop-up live firing range.

This came up several months ago in FR. The numbers were very high in the Nam.

[muawiyah]

It's still my first choice for one or two white males with an Identity Church affiliation of some kind. This is because of the readily constructed anti-semitic connection.

My second choice is for one or two white males with a Moslem affiliation of some kind. This is because of the readily constructed anti-semitic connection & - gotta put the "&" in there - the AlQaida instructions to just drive around shooting people just like the Egyptian guy did in Los Angeles at the airport.

[FreedomPoster]

Inner city gangbanga's don't have a practice range and can't shoot.

Dey can if dey be usin' HoMeBoY NyTe SyTeS.

And back to a serious note, let's hope the gangbangers continue with this shooting "style".

[Skywalk]

I don't buy it at all. Christian Identity scum don't go around shootin blonde-haired white women. Unless they saw them with a black or Hispanic dude.

These shootings are too random and too "diverse" for me to think "crazed white racist." Why deny what is obvious to the rest of us.

I remember other white guys that LE have scapegoated--Oswald, Richard Jewell, Hatfill and the anthrax letters.

[muawiyah]

I encourage you to reference http://www.michaels.com/online/departments/corporate/corporate_about.htm

Two of the shots have been taken at a Michael's craft store. In one case no one was hit. In the second case, a woman was hit but seems to have survived so far. "Michael's" also operates under the name "Aaron's".

A third shooting took place at the post office adjacent to "Leisure World", a retirement community that caters to a predominantly Jewish clientele.

That's half of the shootings that are clearly related to a single element. The other half probably is, or the shooters were local fellows who thought they were!

Now, about these guys shooting up "blond haired, blue-eyed" women - ATF a few years back had one of their forensic scientists go nuts and murder a plastic surgeon up in Chicago for what he called "polluting the Aryan race". The guy specialized in nose-jobs. The killer could have as readily gone around torching drugstores for selling hair lighteners.

It really is "hard to tell" these days, you know?! Eh?!"

If you want to argue that the Identity Church, Aryan Nations, Ku Kux Klan, Pagan, and other racist outfits are careful to avoid killing or harming blondes when they go on their rampages, go to it, but be fully aware that the evidence is they do not do so. You could be out there with your rifle, ammunition, pickemuptruck, Confederate flag across the back of your jacket, your Nazi armband in place, and a cross burning in the parking lot and if it was a Jewish owned store you were standing in front of one of these guys wouldn't waste a second reconsidering whether or not you were a suitible target.

[muawiyah]

Dr. Slepien was killed the same way up in Buffalo a few years back. The FBI has the guy the abortion industry believes did it in custody. He's called "Atomic Dog" by his friends.

The FBI totally discounted the antisemitic attack theory. They also discounted the hunting accident theory.

Here's 7 more shootings with 5 killings where they can discount the antisemitic attack theory.

"Atomic Dog" is still locked up!

[Catspaw]

This is also being reported in the DC papers, but this story has a photo and a name.

Saturday, October 5, 2002 5:30AM EDT

 

Sixth death linked to sniper
Police want to talk to N.C. ex-resident

		Baker, shown in a 1993 photo, is wanted for questioning.

From Staff and Wire Reports

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Police linked the shooting of a 72-year-old man in Washington to the sniper killings of five Maryland residents and said that the same high-powered rifle was used to kill at least four of the victims.

Authorities were searching for two men, including one with North Carolina ties, for questioning, and were investigating whether a seventh shooting outside a Virginia store was part of the same crime spree.

Late Friday, federal authorities in Charlotte issued a bulletin for a 33-year-old former Raleigh man in connection with the shootings. Robert Gene Baker III was believed to be heading south from Washington and may have associates in Virginia and North Carolina, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said.

Baker previously lived in an apartment at 9135 Stonehenge Drive in North Raleigh. It was not known when Baker last lived in Raleigh.

Baker's family members reported him missing Monday, according to the ATF report.

The bulletin described Baker as a drug user affiliated with various militia and white supremacist groups. He is 5-feet-9 and 165 pounds, with brown eyes, brown hair and tattoos on both arms and his back.

Police are looking for a white 2000 GMC van with dark lettering. The vehicle has a Maryland registration.

The ATF says it believes Baker is armed with a handgun and high-powered rifle and should be considered extremely dangerous.

Baker was arrested in 1993 in Raleigh on a fugitive warrant and also was charged with not wearing a seat belt and driving without a license, according to Wake County court records.

In Washington, police reported that the same weapon was used in Friday's slaying as in three of the five shootings in Maryland, said Special Agent Michael Bouchard of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Forensic testing was still under way in the two other Maryland shootings.

"We are on track to get him," said Charles Moose, the Montgomery County police chief, and a 1975 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. But few witnesses saw the killings, and no shell casings were found at the crime scenes.

In the latest case linked to the sniper fire, a 72-year-old man walking near the Montgomery County line on a main northern Washington street was shot once in the chest Thursday night. He fell dead, just a short drive from the Montgomery County locations where the first five victims were killed.

The shooting Friday, still under investigation for links to the sniper cases, was in Fredericksburg, Va., 50 miles to the south.

At the Spottsylvania Shopping Center, a woman was shot in the back and critically wounded Friday afternoon as she loaded packages into her car outside a Michaels arts and crafts store. The police said a gray car was seen speeding off afterward.

The ATF has received a bullet casing from that shooting, and will test it, Moose said.

The police, saying they were in the early stages of the investigation, said they saw no immediate connection except the seemingly random nature of the shootings. But they expressed interest in the coincidence that the very first Montgomery County incident on Wednesday night was a shot fired through the window of another Michaels store in Wheaton, Md. That shot barely missed a store clerk, the police said, while the rifleman's next five shots resulted in five fatalities. Those victims died in separate attacks Wednesday and Thursday as they went about routine outdoor activities, from mowing the grass to cleaning out a car.

Moose, the Montgomery County police chief, confirmed Friday morning that ballistic evidence showed that the victims most likely were shot by a sniper using high-intensity .223-caliber bullets of the sort used by rifle hunters and soldiers.

"They don't appear to be anyone's enemies, just random targets," said Moose, noting the victims were from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.

Detectives' confirmation of the stalker's marksmanship plus the possibility that the gunman might have widened his field and struck again intensified the anxiety spreading through Washington and surrounding suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.

"People were just out doing ordinary things, and people just decide to drive by and blow them away," said Connie Gray, 69, a Montgomery County resident shopping near where a woman was shot through the head on Thursday as she sat on a bench outside a post office. "That saddens me, and it angers me."

Detectives indicated that they had a continuing suspicion that the method used by the rifleman was to take aim from a distance while hidden inside such a truck, beyond sight of immediate witnesses, and to speed away with the spent cartridge evidence.

While stressing this as the police's best theoretical lead, Moose rejected speculation that more than one gunman might be involved. He also said the white-truck scenario was one of many that could emerge as detectives seek fresh evidence.

The deadliness of the gunman's intent was clear as a federal firearms expert explained that the .223 caliber bullet, while relatively small looking, was designed for high-velocity firing from an outsized cartridge packed with extra gunpowder.

The very idea that such high-intensity open-field weaponry was being brought to bear covertly on suburbanites chilled residents trying to go about their business.

"You're afraid standing here that somebody might come along and shoot you -- you know it's possible," said Loretta Betesch, 42, an insurance saleswoman, pausing in a grocery store parking lot in Wheaton, where the first victim was gunned down on Wednesday. "It could happen anywhere. It's very unnerving."

[Free Trapper]

On another thread a FReeper posted that this man is reported on Fox as NOT involved.

[Sacajaweau]

We still don't know a lot or if the white van is REALLY connected, (do we??).

I'm looking at the path of the shootings...E,W,E,N,S...forming an cross more or less...it almost looks like a relay race. (The Wed night shot was a ploy to see who comes out if a shot is fired in this area).

Thursday, the clock is pretty tight..31, 25, 82 minutes between hits...7:41, 8:12, 8:37, 9:58. The 82 minutes might indicate a delay?? of planned time (stopped on highway OR re-routed (walking) to avoid search points). Hits alternate..shopping area/gas station...

NOTE: These all occur in the early news time frame. Please remember that the hits on the trade center began just before 9:00 AM.

We now know that the same weapon was used in at least 4 of these but WE DO NOT KNOW THAT IT IS THE SAME SHOOTER..