Out of curiousity, who do you think it is? 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. The card said "I am God".
I would imagine it gives the guy an incredible sense of power to look through his scope and play the game of "I will now decide if you die or not". I would imagine the guy has lain in his house with his rifle trained on passersby or his neighbors while they were totally unaware of the "power" he held over them and I imagine even then, he received a powerful intoxication from the thought that he was "God-like" in the power of life and death he held in his trigger finger for the totally unsuspecting. I would imagine he had a round in the chamber, safety off, finger on the trigger with slight pressure applied when he "practiced" like this and he probably enjoyed the thought that those anonymous ones he allowed to keep living would never know how fortunate they were that he spared them.
I remember watching a video about snipers in the military. One of the guys was a police sniper. He did the above that I just described- maybe not with the evil thoughts and a round in the chamber but he definitely lay in his house aiming his rifle at his neighbors and dry fired the weapon for practice. He said he did this for hours at a time and reckoned it trained him to be sub-conciously connected to the target in his scope and prepared him for the random little movements people make. I found the guy to be kind of nutty myself.
I would also imagine this sniper hasn't been practicing at a commercial firing range lately. 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. He's probably fascinated with books like "Marine Sniper" or "One Shot, One Kill" and movies like "Enemy at the Gates".
Another thing about the calling card and its "I am God" message- in the Army the sniper is often nicknamed "God". This is what got me thinking about the ex-military angle in the first place. I wouldn't speculate on whether he had actually gone to the military sniping school or not or simply had wet dreams about being a sniper and going to the school- probably the latter, but then again, hard to say.
The only thing I can think of doing against him would be to call in a bunch of these ex military snipers, maybe even Carlos Hathcock himself, and ask them where they would set up in the area if they wanted to commit these sorts of crimes and then do stakeouts on these places. Maybe sit down and talk with them and find out a little bit about the sniper mentality. Maybe review the rolls of the soldiers who went through sniper school in the last 25 yrs and see how many are living in the area?
Carlos passed away February 23, 1999 but I'd hope they've been doing that with the other military snipers
If you can talk to Carlos, you can probably devine who the sniper is all by your self as poor Carlos Hathcoc has passed away. RIP
Dan
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He died about a year ago.
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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.
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.