Maryland Sniper Shootings-FR Commentary

Fox, CNN, Press Conferences | October 9, 2002 | Fox, CNN, Press Conferences

[Peach]

Another press conference due soon. To avoid multiple vanity threads regarding any news that comes from press conferences, thought we'd keep a live commentary thread going again today.

[AnAmericanMother]

Yup. That's just standard medieval iconography. (You'll actually find it all the way back into ancient Roman times.)

[Shooter 2.5]

There's a report on another web site that may or may not be true. It reported that the card was found a distance away from the matted area and it was supposed to be close enough to the yellow taped line where it could have been thrown there by a prankster. This could explain why Moose was so testy about the card.
A reporter should ask where it was found.

[Elenya]

The post was one of the few search results for "Dear Mr. Policeman"

[relee]

. It reported that the card was found a distance away from the matted area...

TV 4 showed a yellow ‘evidence marker’ flag in the ground as they talked about finding a tarot card. There was a chain link fence in the background. I don’t remember seeing a fence in the background when they showed the matted down grass area the other day.

[cinFLA]

The Tarot card said "Dear Policeman, I am GOD". That leads me to believe that he is a home grown nutjob who has been watching an awful lot of serial killer movies.

The phrase "Dear Policeman" is strange, rather juvenile. Or someone whose native language is not English. Why would he use the "singular" and why "policeman" instead of cops or police. I exclude noone but this sounds like someone trying to throw out a false clue. With all the apparent planning, it is curious that they would leave the empty cases.

[Catspaw]

In recent years, I've had cameras stuck in my face. The first time was when our neighbor's child was murdered and the press was crawling all over the neighborhood, sticking cameras & mikes in our faces, asking, "how do you FEEEEEL?" My response was unprintable and unairable :-))

After that, two of our clients were murdered by their respective spouses about a year or so apart & I got picked to say, "no comment" a lot. The press was horrid--they'd outright lie, they'd misrepresent themselves, they pulled every stunt to attempt to get us to talk. They even called us at home, day or night. And ethically, we couldn't talk.

Being the public information officer or spokesman (or, in my case, spokeswoman) is a wretched, wretched job. I don't want Chief Moose's job.

[OReilly]

don't think the killer is so much listening to the talking heads as he/she is listening to what Moose has to say, and mocking him. Maybe Moose should just shut up.

You are correct I believe, and it may spawn copycats when they see that they can get a Police chief to yell, whine, cry, and threaten on TV several times a day.

[cake_crumb]

What had me confused were the tangents which appeared to equate La Morte with "The King" or so it seemed at the time...then there was the Tower tangent...

I've been sick, and need to go to bed. 'Night all...here's to hoping the killer has been caught by the time I log on tomorrow.

[aristeides]

Firing pistol out of a window? Doesn't sound like the sort of thing this sniper would do.

[Shooter 2.5]

It may also explain why they detained a female just for dropping someone off near the area. Tempers would rise if they thought someone was contaminating a crime scene.

[Dead Dog]

I believe Conn. has similar laws. Pretty lame eh.

[areafiftyone]

You would be surprised how many people still use the term policeman here in New York. I still use the word sometimes. It's not uncommon. This person is definately not gonna express rage at the police because then the police will have a clue that he has a grudge against them. But saying I am GOD is something that a psycho would say. This person truly believes that he is GOD or God is speaking to him telling him to kill. David Berkowitz thought a dog (Son of Sam) told him to kill.

[NautiNurse]

Update on that report--now denying that shots were fired. Sounds like a woman called 911 to report the guy was "tearing up the place." He is undergoing psychological eval now.

[Route66]

Fox says he did not fire out the window. His mother called police after a disturbance. Thay are holding him for psychiatric evaluation.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Check your mail

[cinFLA]

You would be surprised how many people still use the term policeman here in New York. I still use the word sometimes.

The word "policeman" in itself is not strange. It was teh total phrase "Dear Mr. Policeman" that I found either juvenile or one with English as a second language. After I made that post, I read another post that had a google search on the phrase. It turns out that "Dear Mr. Policeman" was a text used in Singapore to teach grade school children!

"To educate our students on crime prevention, a series of crime prevention textbooks called "Dear Mr Policeman" were brought into the school curriculums in 1986 to teach students from upper primary to lower secondary levels the importance of crime prevention. This series, which is still currently being taught, will soon be replaced in 1999 by an enhanced series called "Safe and Secure:"

[El Gato]

That's what I read...IIRC, there wasn't enough left of the slugs to do ballistic testing.

In a few of the cases there wasn't, but I distinctly recall reading that the ATF said the "marks" or "markings" on the bullet were a match in the Monday shooting and some of the others.

[gatechie]

We should consider the possiblity that these are new trial activities by terrorists. Looking back, do we really think that Eric Rudolf is responsible for all of those unsolved bombings at the 1996 Olympic games, those abortion clinics, gay bars, and black churches? The terrorists have been tactically checking our weaknesses for a while now. There are even theories floating around on terrorist links to the Oklahoma City bombing.

Can you say Arlington Road?

[Dog]

What should we make of this guy not doing anything since Monday?

[Chemist_Geek]

And ethically, we couldn't talk.

Wow, couldn't even say something like, "What a shame."?