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."

[muawiyah]

And, as I reminded you on a different thread, Identity, et al scum would shoot their own blue-eyed blond mothers if they caught them shopping at a Jewish owned store.

But you know that anyway.

[Boot Hill]

Would he run if faced with firepower? If he's on a serious meth binge, then not a chance. These are not fun people to be around. They give berserkers a bad name. But he will eventually run out of steam and crash hard. Then you can take him without risk. But until then, he's a lethal weapon.

Regards,

Boot Hill

[kcvl]

I don't think I explained myself very well in that post. I meant the person who wrote the article would run NOT the guy WITH the gun. lol!

[Travis McGee]

I wonder how they pack the extra gunpowder inside the outsized .223 cartridge?

Will they ever find a reporter that knows a rifle from a shotgun?

[Travis McGee]

In my novel the ATF deputy asst director who does the actual stadium massacre leaves a goofball drugged out Desert Storm veteran with ties to a "covert right wing militia" at the sniper's lair as a patsy.

[epow]

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 .223 case is "outsized" and "packed with extra powder"?? That is a ridiculous characterization of the cartridge. Does this "federal expert", probably an ATF JBT, know what he's talking about, or is he just trying to demonize a very popular target and varmint hunting round in the minds of the frightened soccer moms? I think the answer may be yes and yes.

First, the .223 cartridge is anything but "outsized", it's a very small case compared to most centerfire rounds. Second, if you "pack" it with "extra powder" you'll most likely lose a few fingers and maybe an eye when the case head separates or the rifle barrel bursts. Any reloader knows that "extra" powder, small capacity cases, and small bore diameters like the .223 add up to a very dangerous combination.

Seems to me the "authorities" in MD are going way out of their way to turn this tragic incident into a major anti-gun event. I noticed on the news shows last night the MD cops were exhibiting an assortment of mean-looking military style black rifles as examples of the type of firearm they think the shooter used. Not one of them was a regular wood stocked sporting type rifle, which is just as likely to be what the killer used as any of the rifles they were showing. That shows me the liberal gun-hating MD authorities are trying to blame these murders on "evil" black guns instead of the murderer himself.

HCI and VPC couldn't ask for a better job of frightening the sheeple about those evil so-called assault rifles in private hands than the ATF and MD LE is doing. One of the cops even asked that people who know of anyone who owns one of those type rifles to report it to the cops. The implication being that anyone who owns one is the type of unstable person who could go off on a murderous shooting spree at any moment. They should be trying to calm the public's fears instead of inflaming them by insinuating that one of their neighbors may be a whacked out gun nut with an arsenal of "assault" rifles who goes around shooting people with "outsized" cartridges "packed with extra powder".

[Catspaw]

There's a difference between "not a suspect" and "not involved." The reports I've seen only say he's not a suspect, but the ATF wants to talk to him. There's also a BOLO (Be On the LookOut) for him in Maryland, with a more detailed description of the vehicle on this thread.  I'd assume the other jurisdictions (DC Police, Virginia) are also interesting in having a little chat with Mr. Baker.

[Rebelbase]

Mmm...this sounds like the work of Eric Rudolph.

[SLB]

Maybe the shooter has some concentrated gunpowder? More bang for the buck! </sarcasm> The reporters need to do some research. This is the trouble with the whole media arena today. No reporting, no research, just fill a page or time slot with dramatic words and forget about accuracy in reporting.

[mystery-ak]

I know it's been reported that this isn't the guy, but what led LE to him to begin with?

[Rebelbase]

Seems to me the "authorities" in MD are going way out of their way to turn this tragic incident into a major anti-gun event. I noticed on the news shows last night the MD cops were exhibiting an assortment of mean-looking military style black rifles as examples of the type of firearm they think the shooter used. Not one of them was a regular wood stocked sporting type rifle, which is just as likely to be what the killer used as any of the rifles they were showing. That shows me the liberal gun-hating MD authorities are trying to blame these murders on "evil" black guns instead of the murderer himself.

I saw that! My first thought exactly. Those AR-15's and M4's they were displaying were $800-1500 weapons, While a cheap $300 or less bolt-action single-shot wood-stock hunting rifle would accomplish the same task.

[wattsmag2]

I never had a high opinion of UNC-Chapel Hill. But then, I went to NC State.

[Ditter]

>>>>high intensity bullet>>>>>

LOL My husband said the same thing. This guy probably heard about the University of Texas tower shooter & wanted to see if he could do it.

[Free Trapper]

I understand.Thanks.

[William McKinley]

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[bimbo]

I am wondering how long it will take for Democrat Candidate for Governor, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, to link the killer and his “right wing militia” to Republican rival Bob Erhlich … Sort of like Clinton and the OKC bombing.

[Travis McGee]

Clearly we need to outlaw outsized cartridges packed with extra gunpoweder, ie bottlenecked high powered rifle rounds.

.22 long rifle should be enough for anyone.

[bvw]

Since this is a guessing game, I'm guessing terrorists and they are headed up to Harrisburg and around to Albany, Boston, and them down to NYC area.

[Dutch Boy]

Why is it that every time someone gets shot from a distance of more than 20 feet the shooter is called a sniper? Add that the the highly deadly woodchuck round (.223) and you have the makings of a terrorist reporter. Did any source quote the distance of the shot? I doubt it was more than a few hundred feet.

Any deer hunter (in a rifle hunting zone) worth his salt can hit a fairly small target at about 200 yards. Hell, I can hit put 40 rounds in a row through a sheet of typing paper at 200 meters with my M1A and no scope. I don't consider myself more than a novice. Snipers are a special breed of human. They can hit the same target at a 1000 yards.... with it moving.

[ncweaver]

IF this is the right guy, he lived a little too close for comfort.