Posted on 10/09/2002 2:41:16 AM PDT by kattracks
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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.
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One way or the other, the phone lines don't reach that far.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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'.
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