[Pharmboy]

A semi-crazy gun nut? I dunno...who knows what to think about this one.

[dark_lord]

(1) The single shot maximizes ability to escape and continue the "opertion". It is very hard to identify the direction and distance of a single shot. Multiple shots would give people in the area, alerted by the 1st shot, an opportunity to identify direction and distance and thus see identifying factors (vehicle, clothing, facial characteristics.)

(2) My 2 cents on terrorist versus sociopath. There is no detectible difference. A terrorist is a terrorist by occupation, a sociopath by psychological inclination. A person who will do these shootings is a sociopath by definition. And sociopathy is subject to self control. Whether or not this person is a terrorist by occupation remains to be seen. Remember that if this turns out to be some middle class, suburban dwelling, lives next door white guy killer - he could still eventually send "Al Qaeda" type notes to the cops to throw them off.

(3) The satellite tracking of vehicles is the best idea. However someone in the govt will have to direct the NSA to stage a satellite over the area. Usually we don't use our spy satellites over our own territory - they are out looking over Iraq and Afghanistan right now (as well as Russia, China, N. Korea, etc.) But if this is done then yes, something on the vehicle could be detected.

(4) We might get lucky - someone, sometime, will have a video camera and will capture this turkey and/or the vehicle.

[tracer]

This looks more like a case of the profile not fitting the killer....

[Marysecretary]

It could be terrorism. I had read earlier, perhaps on FR, that terrorists had planned to do this kind of crime. Hopefully they will consider that angle. Also, Elijah List has sent down a request for people to pray that the killer(s) would be found within 48 hours. So, prayer warriors, let's pray that they are found during that time frame. Love, M

[David]

This operation is precisely one of the operations the al Queda training video depicts--this is exactly what they were training to do. Everything about the shooting is this event: The single shot minimizes risk of detection; no reason to use more that one shot--easily within training perimeters to teach and practice an accurate 400-500 yard shoot.

Probably a bolt action is more accurate that an M-16--makes little difference what kind of weapon was used; point is accuracy. This round which is really the 5.56 NATO round is an accurate round because it has a nice flater trajectory; you don't have to calculate drops or rises on the fly as you pick your target.

The point of this is that yes, maybe this is not a Moslem attack--but when you have the training video depicting this event, with the islamics practicing this for use in the United States; very difficult to conceive of any other motive; the obvious first guess is that this is an enemy attack. Why do the authorities have so much difficulty responding reasonably?

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Or, he or they may be middle eastern Iraqui trained bin laden financed terrorists!

[TC Rider]

I woke up this morning thinking about this.

I believe it to be the work of two people, probably terrorists.

They are operating out of a panel truck with a sliding rear door.

Once in position, the door is raised only a few inches, just enough for a good sight picture. The shooter is in a very stable, prone position.

He fires his one shot, at the sound of the shot, his accomplice pulls away from the curb. They are half a block away by the time the victim realizes they are shot.

If they leave the motor running, anyone hearing the shot might think it just a backfire or engine sputter.

The nearly closed door traps most of the sound inside the box of the truck.

He is probably using a semi-automatic instead of a bolt action. That would explain the one casing getting away from him. It rolled out the door as they left the scene. A bolt action would have retained the casing. They may have some kind of suppressor on the rifle.

With this MO of waiting for targets of opportunity and firing only one shot, they can play this game forever.

[Becki]

I think they are "testing the water". They are creating these scenarios, watching the reaction and the procedures taken. They are watching response time, community reaction, investigators, the public responses to different victims, etc.

Maybe I'm paranoid. I hope I am.

Becki

[5by5]

He fit's one profile guite nicely--terrorist.

[5by5]

We could go on all day about whether he's a terroist or not and not conclude anything until he's caught.

But if he's a "garden variety madman" then I would expect him to continue operating in the same area because that's where he lives and it's convenient for him.

But if he's a terrorist, he'll move on to another area to spread the fear around in an attempt to make all Americans feel like they're under attack. This is because a terrorist can take advantage of a support network that the madman is unlikely to have. If it's terrorist activity, there may also be multiple snipers. That would make it conclusive...

[BlueMondaySkipper]

If you wanted to hire a hit on someone, wouldn't this be an ideal way to hide the fact that you were having a specific person killed?

If you could establish a completely random pattern of killings, with your intended target mixed in, no one would be the wiser.

I don't think that this is the case here, but I don't have a lot of hope that the authorities are thinking outside of the box.

[stuartcr]

Just goes to show that profiling isn't all it's made out to be. How DOES one defend against a completely random act of violence?

[WhirlwindAttack]

I think it's islamic terrorists IMO.
2 teams, 1 driver 1 shooter in one vehicle.
1 cover team in the second vehicle.

If LEO close on the sniper team, cover team turns it into a furball.
Just my opinion. FReegards

[oldvike]

I've said from the beginning that this nut is hunting people. He looks at them the same way you or I would look at a deer. I don't think he has an agenda....he's just trying to see how many people he can bag before he gets busted. The guy gets a thrill out of stalking and shooting his prey, much as a big game hunter gets his thrill. Frightening.

[HighWheeler]

Lemme ad some corrective and completeness editorial to this one line in the article:

"Most mass murderers, for example kill to settle a grudge (like Islam does), or avenge a perceived wrong (like Islam does), targeting victims who are relatives (like Saddam does), colleagues or members of an ethnic group they hate (like Islam does), the experts (who avoid anything that appears like profiling Islam, like cowards do) said."

[SerpentDove]

>>"Since there is no evidence of a motive, or evidence that this person is trying to get even with society, what is left is killing for sport,"<<

Let's not rule out terrorism.