Sixth death linked to sniper - Police want to talk to N.C. ex-resident [Robert Gene Baker - photo]

newsobserver.com ^ | October 5, 2002

[HAL9000]

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

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."

[Cobra Scott]

I like the question mark! LOL!

Now, to grab some airtime, will his be played up as a Hatfill, an Oswald, a McVeigh or a Sirhan-Sirhan?

[DainBramage]

Many country boys are poachers? BS.

I didn't say all or most, but its not uncommon here. Dirt road driving, and taking shots at deer and turkey from inside the cab is no new thing around here.

[tomkat]

hunch agreement on the copycat aspect in fredericksburg ...

[fone]

Note post #19. I don't have my TV on. Maybe I should.

[tomkat]

just found this thread, so am not up to overnight speed,
but knew this 'lone white guy' BOLO was bullshit from the git ...

[fone]

OTOH, maybe they should start checking the movie theaters?

[Cobra Scott]

Unless maybe he was the hookup for the firearms used, or the vehicles maybe.

I wonder if it will quietly emerge that they've been looking for a missing individual who has spent the last week in jail somewhere? That won't look too good....

[Free Trapper]

Yeah,it must be a real bummer to a bunch of people that they might not be able to blame an "evil white gun nut" for these cowardly murders.

[AmericanInTokyo]

This still doesnt explain the fact that at least up until today, this is judged as a probable conspiracy. That there are two men or suspects in the vehicle, a driver and a shooter. A conspiracy adds a whole different dimension. Also, one shooter brings up a good point. Here we are still in a semi national state of emergency at code yellow, and sleeper cells are being broken up, and we know of the al Qaida training and intent to perform random killings from motorways in the US due to their training camp activities near Kandahar and the worldwide network

[AmericanInTokyo]

It's late here! LOL! Mistook shooter for 'poster'. Arghhh...

[Cobra Scott]

Naw, looks like a mini-Hatfill in the making. What do you bet that he will remain "a person of interest"?

[FR_addict]

Just like the anthrax killer. They won't even discuss the possibility that it is Moslem extremists.

Now they are saying this guy isn't linked to the killings. He must have an airtight alibi or he would be their patsy.

They won't even say what he did previously, except he didn't wear a seat belt. It is all by innuendo, nothing concrete.

The FBI must be operating with Clinton holdovers in charge. Is a seat belt charge enough to get your picture plastered all over the country as the shooter?

[Free Trapper]

See #19.Sorry I couldn't link you.

[ZinGirl]

seen him around?

[Peach]

Thanks for replying. Now I've seen threads that discount the suspect pictured in this thread (See Post #16). Also, new thread says police suspect shooter may be high on cocaine and a diabetic. #1: If they have that much info - why no new photo or description? #2: Typically, users and diabetics aren't very steady and the shooter has unfortunately good accuracy. I just hope they get him soon but it seems the police don't really have much to go on.

[FreedomPoster]

Here we are still in a semi national state of emergency at code yellow, and sleeper cells are being broken up, and we know of the al Qaida training and intent to perform random killings from motorways in the US due to their training camp activities near Kandahar and the worldwide network

But this is an unrelated event, not believed to be terrorism at this time. Like the LAX shootings. < /sarcasm>

[tomkat]

I just hope they get him soon but it seems the police don't really have much to go on.

not that i'm knockin'em much, 'cause these shooter(s) are 'good',
but my sense is that the cops are still pretty clueless on this.

fwiw, i'm still thinking fredericksburg is a copycat,
and this whole 'white box truck' thing was erroneous from the start,
and is diverting manpower that could be better used elsewhere ...

$0.02

[muawiyah]

Here in Virginia we are equally well armed and can shoot back. Didn't stop this nutcase.

BTW, did you notice that this is exactly the way Dr. Slepian was killed up in Buffalo?

Maybe the "fibbies" have the wrong guy in custody!

[KevinB]

a 1975 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill.

I used to have a fairly high opinion of this institution; however, I may have to reconsider. This guy Moose can barely speak. Yesterday at a news conference someone asked him if he was frustrated by the investigation and he proceeded to explain, over and over, that he was indeed not "flushstrated wiff" the investigation.

Not trying to be mean here, but this guy is a graduate of a respected college and is the chief of police in a hugely populated county considered one of the wealthiest in the country. One would think they could find someone who can speak English. It also makes me wonder about the quality of the investigation. Thankfully, the Feds are involved.

[Cobra Scott]

Good (and chilling) points. Here's my thoughts:

If the shootings were from the same firearm, then the shooter was carrying it. I'm leaning towards multiple shooters because of this. I've shot from an Impala, you can't hit anything easily, you are positioned all wrong (and the blast will blow 15 years of dust and grime off the dash into your face :) ). He or she is extricating with the firearm with help.

Now, "why" is another thing. I think the motivation is terrorism. I don't think its a conspiracy by the antis, or the DNC, or the ZOG ambassador to Zeta Reticuli.

As for the "who", I think that since the Israelis cracked down (maybe not hard enough), Western cells are now vieing for those islamo-dollars that go into arafat's swiss account. Capitalism is an addictive thing. Now we need to introduce them to another concept, Justice.