Posted on 10/05/2002 6:15:53 AM PDT by SLB
ROCKVILLE, Md.- A series of six fatal sniper shootings has shaken the Washington, D.C., suburbs, even as officials urge wary residents to go about their normal business.
But law enforcement authorities are worried.
"My level of concern about the ability of the suspect to strike again is high," said Charles Moose, the Montgomery County police chief, late Friday. "This brings us to a higher degree of recklessness by this suspect or suspects."
"We implore him to surrender, stop this madness," Moose said.
On Friday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said testing showed the same high-powered rifle had been used to kill at least four of six shooting victims. Five victims were shot in Maryland; one was gunned down in Washington, D.C.
The sixth victim, a 72-year-old Washington, D.C., pedestrian, was killed by the same weapon used to kill at least three of the Maryland victims, said Special Agent Michael Bouchard.
"The four shootings were done with the same firearm," he said, adding that forensic testing was still under way in the two other Maryland fatal shootings.
Bouchard also said ATF agents would examine evidence collected from the scene of a shooting Friday outside a crafts store in Fredericksburg, Va., 55 miles south of Rockville to see if it was related. A woman was shot in the back, but survived the attack.
Police were looking for two men in a white van with dark lettering, a description that came from a witness to one of the killings. Police pulled over white vans Friday and plastered orange stickers on the back to show the vehicles had been checked. Moose said investigators were chasing more than 500 leads.
Each Maryland victim was felled by a single bullet. Police said evidence indicated the killer was some distance away and used .223-caliber bullets.
The search went on amid a mix of fear and defiance among residents of the economically and culturally diverse slice of the suburban county where the shootings occurred.
Meanwhile, all over Montgomery County, people appeared to carry on with business as usual - though with a lot more caution. Many said they were afraid but wouldn't stop getting groceries, going to work or leaving their children with a baby sitter.
"I had to shop. I need to eat. I can't stay at home all day," said Kira Leonova, who works at a bookstore near one of the slaying scenes. "I have to work and I have a family."
Dexter Evans, 20, scanned the traffic as he waited for a bus to Rockville, and he took a second look at every white truck. "You can't even walk down the street without looking over your shoulder," he said.
Schools opened with extra police patrols and calls poured into 911 dispatchers about suspicious noises.
Five of the victims died within five miles of one another during a 16-hour span between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. All were gunned down in broad daylight in very public places: two at gas stations, one outside a grocery, another outside a post office and the fifth as he mowed the grass at an auto dealership.
"There's still no information to lead us to think our victims are associated," Moose said. "They don't appear to be anyone's enemies, just random targets."
Carin Saez, 27, found herself going back to school Friday to pick up her 12-year-old niece, deciding it was too dangerous. Saez said she would not let her own children go back to school until the killer was caught.
"I was petrified to even go to the store last night," Saez said. "My kids were scared. They didn't even want to go outside. They're more scared now than on September 11."
Officials at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville canceled a Friday night pep rally and police were posted at the football game against rival Wooten High. Dani Young, a 17-year-old senior, said: "It kind of ruins the mood of homecoming."
In Bethesda, Mary Patterson said as she leaving home for a hair appointment: "I'm not afraid. After all, I'm 81 years old - my time could be anytime."
This is the exact mission training films that were captured in Afghanistan depict. Perhaps we have seen a test run. No reason this won't work in any populated metropolitan area--to some degree it is surprising that we have a description of the shooting van and occupants.
You assume these guys are Arabs--the Hispanic lable is just an effort to be Politically Correct.
As depicted, the van is supposed to shoot from a significant range (600-900 yards) and with a silencer (the 5.56 NATO round is not very noisy anyway); it is pretty difficult to identify the source of the shooter.
I also have some difficulty thinking about what I would do to respond if I were standing there watching it happen with my own M-14 or riot gun--if you were in range, you might shoot at tires on the van.
If they dispatch fifty van teams around the country, what do we do about it and how long do we think it would take to shut them down? Bet this van is no longer white but now yellow, or orange, or blue or some other color. No reason they need this big a van--could be done with a minivan or pickup--the idea is to give the shooter a stable platform; in some of the training films, the shooter was using a pickup with a canopy.
They could dispatch 100 of these for a capital investment of $50,000 and 200 men exposed; we would never catch all 200--they might have a few casualties but probably not many.
If the government is going to continue to deprive us of our own weapons for self defense, what are they going to do to protect us against direct armed attacks?
Not at all...I was just messin' witcha.
This guy may actually be competent..I hope so.
Not until after a Communist and/or socialist leadership has had a few years to get them ready, starve them for a month, ship them to the Mexican border and point them northward after saying *Food!* and ringing Pavlov's bell for them. In this case, that would be the playing of General Santa Anna's Deguello...
-archy-/-
It's about the same with me. My electrical engineer son sent the link for Ad-Aware. He said that it was supposed to remove spyware cookies. I assume that means you have to keep it updated. If Drudge is loading us up with spyware, then it doesn't speak well for his site.
That was essentially the case with the two Turkish Muslims in 1914 at the Australian mining town of Broken Hill, who opened fire on a holiday excursion train of miners and their families, killing several including some children, until dealt with by a miner's militia and mounted police patrol. Though it had taken several months for the word of a call to Jihad by the Grand Muftyi of Jerusalem to appear in newspapers that reached them once they learned of it, they spent an evening in oprayer and chanting, loaded up their *assault vehicle* [an ice-cream wagon] with rifles, ammunition and a homemade crescent flag, and set off about their deadly mission for their Religion of Peace.
If you're ever in the New South Wales area, check out the police museum, where a pair of rusting rifles, the flag and wheels of their cart are still on display- or were back around 1975, at any rate. The incident was among those considered by the writers of the *Mad Max* film screenplay.
But it's also worth considering the possibility that the shooters are terrorists working on a command *dead man's switch* with orders to begin depredations if they do not receive orders to the contrary at 6-month, annual or other periods, or on memorable anniversary dates or even birthdays. Anyone know conclusively when bin-Laden's date of birth was?
-archy-/-
Did you see a different press conference? He made so many "foo-pahs" (his pronunciation) it was embarassing -- like going into a long and convoluted explanation about a vehicle being taken to Montgomery County for forensic tests, without explaining whose vehicle it was. When pressed by reporters, he said it was from the "Arlingon" shooting, then had to apologize and explain there was no shooting in Arlington.
Then he went into a long explanation of why they won't be processing the vehicle until 2 pm this afternoon: bottom line being that the forensics team is "tired." I'm sure the families of the victims, and the people of Maryland and Virginia are tired of being terrorized, but by all means, let's not overtax law enforcement!
Sorry, this guy is way over his head, and inspires zero confidence, IMHO.
The most bizarre thing about this case is that Moose is the former police chief of Portland, Oregon, home of the northeast Islamic jihad team that was arrested yesterday. Too weird.
That is now your * Homeland Defense* weapon, as mine has been since 09/11 of last year. Neither does it hurt to have a shotgun along for a spare, should a less-well armed cop or bystander be worth arming to cover your back, or in the event that hostilities commence in the dark at closer ranges than favour the use of some rifles.
In my case, the shotgun was the more usual vehicular accessory, along with my personally-carried handgun. But now both are aboard should they prove handy to have around, as they have three times for me before.
-archy-/-
Yes sir! Right away sir!
We implre him to surrender???? Is this guy for real?
The "Moose" is loose!
You related to Chief Moose?
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