Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Washington sniper leaves taunting message on Tarot card
Agence France-Presse | 10/09/02

Posted on 10/09/2002 2:41:16 AM PDT by kattracks

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last
To: RLK
According to another poster on this thread it was 1999.
21 posted on 10/09/2002 4:41:36 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: fso301
Wow, when did they put that out?
22 posted on 10/09/2002 4:42:20 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Prodigal Son
Out of curiousity, who do you think it is?

----------------------

Whoever it is, I suspect he's probably psychopathically meglamaniacal somewhat like Ted Bundy and/or Bill Clinton. Outside of that, I don't know.

23 posted on 10/09/2002 4:43:14 AM PDT by RLK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: RLK
Oops! I cut and pasted that comment from another thread- forgot to remove that part. Sorry. Still a good question though- thanks for the answer.
24 posted on 10/09/2002 4:48:39 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Prodigal Son
Well, whoever it is, hopefully an alert citizen with a gun will wound this idiot so the cops can interrogate him. That would be the best outcome.
25 posted on 10/09/2002 4:51:14 AM PDT by ovrtaxt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: ovrtaxt
Agreed.
26 posted on 10/09/2002 5:00:28 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Prodigal Son
According to another poster on this thread it was 1999.

-------------------

One way or the other, the phone lines don't reach that far.

27 posted on 10/09/2002 5:01:29 AM PDT by RLK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
This sounds like the same kind of person as the anthrax killer. The strange salutation on the card sounds somewhat like foreign grammer which could be intentional or not. The Tarot card thing is something our military has been doing in Afganistan, leaving "death cards" on dead Taliban as a form of psyops. Strange, don't think it's satanic, more military and vengence sounding.
28 posted on 10/09/2002 5:01:58 AM PDT by chuknospam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: edskid; Prodigal Son
"Dear policeman?" Color me skeptical, but I find something awkward about that salutation.

Sounds to me like a teenager...or a hoax...or an inaccurate reporting of what was actually found at the scene.

Assuming it is accurate for a moment, it really does sound like a teenager, or perhaps some loonybird in his 20's.

29 posted on 10/09/2002 5:05:12 AM PDT by wimpycat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: chuknospam
I agree. It's not Satanic. The "Death" card is the obvious card for an unknowledgeable person to leave, but there are 3-4 other cards in the deck that an occultist would probably use in preference to that one.

This really points towards a homegrown nut, probably a teenager or young man, with a passing acquaintance with occult paraphernalia.

Alternatively, this could be a copycat.

Have the "death cards" in Afghanistan been Tarot, or just ordinary playing cards? If the former, this stuff has gone more mainstream than I thought.

30 posted on 10/09/2002 5:08:16 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: AnAmericanMother
In the LEO's frantic quest for this person/s, I would seriously be skeptical of any "evidence" found. It provides that "we are making progress" cover statement, and portrays the person/s responsible as being bizarre. Like doing what he/she/it is doing is not nutty enough? I doubt the shell casing. I doubt the tarrot card. If I were a cop who had a real dislike for someone, all you need is a deck of tarrot cards and a same caliber gun to leave in someones trunk and they will be locked up for quite some time.

The key to finding this person/s is catching them in site scouting before the next round of shootings. The guy in a park looking at views and buildings. The person in the cemetary who is looking at surrounding fields of view. A person looking at parking lot video equipment.(Remember Mrs. Toogood? she was smart enough to look horizontally for witnesses but not vertically)

31 posted on 10/09/2002 5:33:27 AM PDT by blackdog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: blackdog
I dunno. The chief seemed genuinely angry that somebody gaffed this to the media.
32 posted on 10/09/2002 5:37:03 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: AnAmericanMother
Versus being really ticked that someone is killing innocent people and your carreer at the same time? FWIW, I think a different suburb of DC will be next.
33 posted on 10/09/2002 5:45:27 AM PDT by blackdog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Dick Vomer
A great plan – but it would take a heck of a lot of manpower.
The random killer is the hardest to nail, they have no connection with the target. Most are finally caught because of tips or because they become sloppy. I hope they get this one soon – the media is becoming unglued with their repetitious speculation and repeated questions.
34 posted on 10/09/2002 5:52:53 AM PDT by R. Scott
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Prodigal Son
I'm going with ex military, white male, younger than the profile says- maybe 26- 32 yrs of age. After the calling card was found, I started to think it wasn't more than one guy after all, just someone who has always had a fantasy of sniping.

Good post with valid points. One thing which bothers me about your profile and others is the snipers need to not stand out as noticeable.

My main question in establishing a profile would be "What are the demographics of the neighborhoods where the shootings occured?"

I would want to know this because whites and asians tend to be uncomfortable going into predominantly black areas.

Unless the shootings were totally random, this guy had to have done some reconnoitering of the area. Or at least been familiar enough with the neighborhoods to know safe engress and egress routes. In a predominately black area, a white person will be more noticable and vice-versa.

So, what are the demographics of the neighborhoods where the shootings occured? Be the neighborhood predominantly black, mixed race or predominantly white, important clues are there to be uncovered

Unless the tarot card turns up at other sites, it's hard to know if it was left by the shooter.

He probably likes to construct his own targets to look like humans and take them out into the hills somewhere to poke holes in them

Going out in the hills suggests a person more comfortable in a rural setting that in an urban one. Such person to me would be more likely to snipe in a rural setting, small town setting or urban setting where he didn't feel uncomfortable moving around in.

He's probably fascinated with books like "Marine Sniper" or "One Shot, One Kill" and movies like "Enemy at the Gates".

Very possible but the caliber used may suggest otherwise. "Marine Sniper" dealt with .30+ caliber weapons at long ranges. "Enemy at the Gates" while an urban combat setting also dealt with .30+ caliber weapons. Such wanna-be would likely practice his craft with a bore size larger than the .223 reportedly used.

Like the sniper you mentioned sitting in his room dry firing at neighbors, this guy could be doing the same with a laser sight.

A few years ago, my wife and I were in South Florida visiting some friends. One evening, we went to a nightspot on the beach and while sitting at a sidewalk cafe looking across the road at the ocean, we saw a laser periodically probe up and down the other side of the street. I appeared to be coming from one of the nearby condominiums so we moved closer to the wall of the cafe. Nothing happened but I've always wondered if someone was playing with a new laser pointer or if something more sinister was taking place.

That story aside, if totally random, this guy will screw up and be caught in short order. Unfortunately, a screwup in this case will most likely mean he had to strike again.

35 posted on 10/09/2002 5:53:32 AM PDT by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: edskid
Struck me the same way. "Dear Policeman" has a bit of a foreign ring to it.
36 posted on 10/09/2002 5:55:42 AM PDT by Pharmboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: blackdog
Can't think about that if you're going to get the job done.

Seriously, I feel for this guy. His jurisdiction has, what, maybe 20 murders a year, and then all of a sudden he finds himself in the middle of this mess. It's a bit much to ask for him not to put a foot wrong when he finds himself all over national TV. I've found myself in that unenviable position when handling a "hot" case. Thank heavens it wasn't anything like this, but I'm not going to impute motives or think the worst of him just because he doesn't always show up well on the tube.

I remember when a tiny town in South Georgia was hit with the worst mass murder in the state's history (the Alday murders). They caught the perps pretty quickly, but it shook everybody, including law enforcement, badly enough that some things hit the news that shouldn't have (resulting eventually in a change of venue for the murder trial). I'm not surprised that this chief is overwrought. He has shown good sense in getting as much help as he can.

37 posted on 10/09/2002 5:56:26 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: edskid
"Dear policeman?" Color me skeptical, but I find something awkward about that salutation.

That salutation does sound like it was written by someone who isn't terribly comfortable with the English language. Natch, that would apply to just about every teenager in America, as well as the 'other guys'.



38 posted on 10/09/2002 5:59:35 AM PDT by who knows what evil?
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

I hope we haven't come to a day in these United States where we start to see signs like this:


39 posted on 10/09/2002 6:02:50 AM PDT by Fixit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: AnAmericanMother
I think it is the others on the force that don't care for the chief. I had read some info regarding that but no first hand knowlege. The talk was that there was some very bitter infighting in the department prior to all this mess. As to his career, it will be a victim of circumstance and not of skill or competency. For the same reason that England threw Churchill away like an old hat, they will discard Moose when this comes to a conclusion. The people will not want to be reminded of it just by looking at Moose.
40 posted on 10/09/2002 6:04:26 AM PDT by blackdog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson