Washington sniper leaves taunting message on Tarot card

Agence France-Presse | 10/09/02

[kattracks]

The sniper who killed six people and wounded two others in the Washington area in the past week left a message to police at the scene of his last shooting scribbled on the Death card of the Tarot, The Washington Post said.

"Dear policeman, I am God," read the message on the card used in fortune telling, police sources consulted by the daily confirmed late Tuesday.

The message was found 150 yards (meters) from the school entrance in Prince George's County, Maryland -- northeast of here, where a 13-year-old boy was shot and seriously wounded Monday by the sniper as he was being dropped off by his parents.

The playing card was found in a wooded area where police also found a shell casing and a matted area of grass where they suspect the killer lay in waiting for his victim.

News of the message was first broadcast late Tuesday by the local WUSA-TV television station and confirmed later to the Post by police sources.

Questioned by the daily, Prince George's County Police chief Gerald Wilson, refused to comment on the report. "There's nothing I can say in regards to that."

Another police source told the daily the television report had severely impaired the police investigation into the shootings.

The 13-year-old who remains in critical condition in hospital was the latest victim of the killer who stalks his victims and is believed to be driving around in a white van.

Five people were fatally shot within a 16-hour period last week between Wednesday and Thursday in Montgomery County, Maryland.

A sixth victim was shot in the chest late Thursday while standing on a street corner close to the Maryland border in Washington DC.

On Friday, a woman was shot in the back in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Fredericksburg, Virginia, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Washington. She was hospitalized and reported in fair condition.

No clear pattern has emerged in the attacks. The victims were both male and female, and of varying races and ages.

But ballistics tests have linked six of the eight shootings. Two bullets were in poor shape, making it difficult to link them conclusively to the other shootings, officials said.

Police believe a single gunman, described as a marksman using a high-powered hunting or military rifle, is behind the attacks.

Rewards for information leading to the capture of the killer have mushroomed from 50,000 dollars to almost 200,000 dollars.

Schools in the counties where the sniper has struck are keeping children indoors and police helicopters buzz overhead as public anxiety mounts over the eight random attacks.

[martin gibson]

Is an avid reader of militia publications such as "Field & Stream", "Outdoor Life" and "Popular Mechanics".

Yes. Of course. And he probably owns an SUV and does not love the planet. The fact that he thoughtlessly litters the ground with Tarot cards proves he is also an eco-terrorist.

He also does not care about the homeless and does not want to see womyn as members of the Augusta Country Club.

He does not want to allow voting privledges to animals and plants.

He does not want government to regulate the fat content of fast food.

He does not object to using images of idigenous peoples as sports mascots.

[cynicom]

Somewhat like the anthrax writing??????

[Terriergal]

Wooded area? Maybe we should have more special hunts within city limits. Then the hunters can give this guy some justice.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I don't think the Tarot card thing definitively rules out Islamist terrorists.

Terrorists aren't stupid and they can play games, too.

Look. Just as (in my opinion) the anthrax killer is a DOMESTIC KOOK who purposely wrote those letters to Capitol Hill, the White House, the Supreme Court, with strange grammar and "Allah Ahkbar" to make it look like a foreigner did it, there is just as much an equal, reverse possibility that a savvy Islamist terrorist (who has been here for years or may even be an American) could set the stage for the planting of evidence to 'make it look like a DOMESTIC KOOK case.

I see these two cases, ANTHRAX and now MARYLAND SNIPER still as reverse of what they appear on the surface to be.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Man, are you ever on target. Outstanding. Agree 100%.

[AmericanInTokyo]

sorry for the play on words.

Of course, the libs could also be pissed off immensely if the nickname for this dude or dudes morph from "BELTWAY SNIPER", to a more definitive "NEW AGE SNIPER" (thanks to the wiccan-satan connection)

[hapsgroupie]

It's situations like this that make me wish I knew how to fire a gun. My mom has been talking about going to a local gun shop and purchasing one, and then teaching me how to use it. I live on the west coast, but there are too many weirdos all over the country for me to feel safe when I and my sister are home alone.

Father, bring this killer to swift justice, and punish him for committing evil crimes in Your Name.

[Dead Corpse]

Pretty tenuous connection. The Sniper doesn't even, apparently, know what the "Death" card means in Tarot parlance.

If he had used the VII of Swords, now that would have been a completely different scenario.

My guess is that he was drawn by the imagery on the card, rather than the meaning. The fact that our forces in Afghanistan have been using similar cards should not be ruled out either.

[keats5]

Does anyone know where Al Gore was when these attacks occurred?

Al Gore a sure shot? Come on.

[bankwalker]

Does anyone know where Al Gore was when these attacks occurred?

Locked in a box...

[pepsionice]

"Dear policeman?"

An uncommon phrase...we are looking a word or phrase junkie...someone that is a bit more educated than the typical redneck from Alabama. And as for the phrase 'I am God'....he obviously believes he is above all others...a chip upon his shoulder of enormous size. He had some type of religious conversion in his youth....and really went off the deep end in the past six months.

[Consort]

My money is on Janet Reno: She just lost a close election, she hates kids (Elián), etc....

Dear policeman: I am God = 19 letters...and we all know about the number 19!

[pepsionice]

I like this idea of bringing in former military snipers. We could probably round 300 of them by Friday and put them on the streets of DC. They know what to look for and what tactics this idiot is going to use. We need the best of the best to save lives.

[Consort]

And what about this guy who wanted to legally change his name to God but settled for "I am who I am" instead?

[zx2dragon]

If the tarot card is for real then the so called sniper doesn't know anything about the tarot. The Death card is from majour arcana in the deck and is usually associated with significant change in one's life or (reversed) stagnatation. Please note that the going through a change is not a bad thing, it could signify a possibly good change in one's life.

The shooter would have been better off to leaving Aces and eights or the Ace of Spades.

[Dead Corpse]

My bad. Ten of Swords was the one I was thinking of.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Of course, the LIBBBBERALS and wiccans and womyn's libbers and tree worshippers could reallypalpitate and be pissed off on a grand scale (what with a Tarot card being left behind), if they renamed this evil culprit or culprits the "NEW AGE SNIPER" instead of the more vague BELTWAY SNIPER or MARYLAND SNIPER.

[AnAmericanMother]

My money would be on the V of Swords (or really any of the high Swords except VI), or the Lightning Struck Tower/House of God.

But that's just old ex-hippie me . . . :-D

[Callahan]

I think this hokey "I am God" tarot card taunt left by the sniper is more evidence we are dealing with a garden variety wacko rather than a Middle Eastern terrorist. I don't think Islamic fanatics are into tarot cards (except those filthy gypsies...hmmm). It's obvious that he is responding to the cops. He shot the kid after the police chief said he was putting guards at all the schools. Doesn't this whole scenario remind you of the original "Dirty Harry." The way to catch him is to goad the psycho into a particular target, then lay a trap. I would have the cops go on TV and say something like "We know this guy isn't a professional because he has only shot civilians. Luckily, he doesn't have the nerve to go after a political figure." Then arrange a speech by the Mayor near a city park (all the attacks have been near parks). Of course the Mayor never actually appears. You just plant undercover cops nearby in the best sniping locations and arrest anybody who looks suspicious. All my best crime-fighting tips come from Eastwood movies.

[Lord Marshal]

Regarding the use of the .223. There's a Paladin Press book out which describes this exact MO. It's recommends using a .223 because it will make the person appear less professional, and the light recoil would not allow investigators to eliminate women and children from the suspect list. It recommended sniping in an Urban area, close to interstates, and NEVER taking more then one shot. As I recall, it described everything this POS is doing except leave the tarrot card.