NUTCASE OR TRAINED SNIPER?

Fiedor Report On the News #291 ^ | 10-13-02 | Doug Fiedor

[forest]

Someone once said something like 'in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.' Most government officials on the far left do not want to legislate us blind, of course. They are, however, illegally handicapping millions of American people.

For urban dwellers, one handicap is a natural hearing problem. That is, when someone is startled by a loud noise they often become a little disoriented. Quite often, because of echoes and other ambient noise, it takes a few seconds to figure out exactly where that loud noise came from. And, even after consciously thinking about it, they could still be wrong.

That problem is useful for snipers like the one harassing the suburban D.C. area. Whoever it is seems to be a rather good shot with that .223 rifle and can usually accomplish the dastardly deed with but one shot. Which means, by the time would-be witnesses in the area decide where to look, the shooter is hidden.

Nasty business that: snipers. Police believe the sniper has already shot nine people -- maybe ten. Consequently, the whole area is in a state of fear. Even the area's government schools have curtailed functions.

Maryland's governor called the shooter "a coward" during a news conference. The media also uses all sorts of unfounded descriptions, even though no one has the slightest idea who is doing the shooting.

There are a few very important things we know for sure, though. Perhaps these few things tell at least part of a story, so let's list what we know.

The shooter has little or nothing to worry about in that area because gun laws are draconian. So, unless the shooter happens to stumble upon an off duty police officer who is armed, no one will be shooting back. At least, that was true until last Friday. . . .

In nine of the ten cases, the sniper or snipers struck at a busy time of the day. Every shooting victim was in public, doing everyday things when shot. Again, the shootings were in daylight, usually during the busiest time of the day for that area. The locations chosen for the shootings were near major roadways, some of them at busy intersections.

We have, it appears, a sniper who knows how to play the environment. Some report that it is a coldly calculating sniper, shooting to kill. That seems obvious. But, there could be more to it than that.

It appears the sniper also knows the area. Proper cover is chosen. A good escape route is always available. Police never seem to be around the area at the time of the shooting. Ambient noise and the local environment help to "cover" the actual location of the shooter. And, also very important, the shooter is practiced enough that only one shot is necessary. The need for only taking one shot prevents witnesses from easily pinpointing the location of the shooter.

So, what we have here is a sniper who is either well trained at this or a natural at urban terrorism. It is not likely that a local nutcase with a gun would get the situation right so many times in a row. He may get lucky a couple times, but nine? Nope.

Chances are great that there are some similarities among the victims. This would be important but we do not know that yet. The sniper could be just taking any opportune target, but even that subconscious choice could offer a clue to the perpetrator's personality. The choice of shooting over an officers head to kill an innocent victim, as was done last Friday, certainly does. The officer was an easier target.

Now back to our problem: The armed sniper is allowed free shots in that area. He can take his time and acquire a target. He can take the shot, duck out of sight and vacate the area with impunity. Even if spotted, no one can do anything about it. He is armed, they are not. Odds are better than one-hundred to one that no citizen in the area is also armed. Even if spotted by police, the officer's handguns and shotguns are a poor match for a sniper with a rifle.

Such is the shame of the politicians of that area. They have caused the citizens to be totally defenseless. Like a shooting gallery, any nut with a gun may do his will with near impunity.

Because, in the land of the unarmed, one man with a gun can cause all sorts of havoc.

 

 END

[Shooter 2.5]

What you say is true but people who have been around guns a little more would have an edge if they were the witnesses.

If there would have been at least one person familiar with firearms nearby, they could have figured out the direction and how far the killer was. This doesn't mean that someone would have to go charging toward the killer like he was storming a beach. It only means that someone would be able to tell if the person really was in those trucks or hiding near one and using it as a decoy.

This hasn't been a lack of police work. It's been a lack of witnesses or let's face it, any credible witnesses, at the scenes.

[Shooter 2.5]

The official definition of Point Blank Range is the setting on fixed sights that are made so that within that particular range, the target would be hit if the aim point was at the midsection. On the fixed sight of a 1903 Springfield it was about 625 yards.

I'm guessing that today, it's the range in which a blind, anti-gun democrat can't miss with a "Saturday Night Special".

[Rocksalt]

What has amazed me is that no one has heard the shot and lokked and identified the assailant,or got a good look at the vehicle.Could he/she be using a silencer of some sort?

[cinFLA]

On the fixed sight of a 1903 Springfield it was about 625 yards.

I think at 625 yds you would have to aim at his privates.

[cinFLA]

The official definition of Point Blank Range is the setting on fixed sights that are made so that within that particular range, the target would be hit if the aim point was at the midsection. On the fixed sight of a 1903 Springfield it was about 625 yards.

I think the better meaning would be to insure a kill. As for the Springfield, I was searching for a reference but couldn't find one. I think it was (maybe WW11) sighted in at 500 yds and you would have to aim a little low at mid-ranges and a little high at 625 yds.

[shattered]

He has made a lot of hits..but I wonder if he has also had misses that noone has even known about. Didn't he hit the glass at a Michaels and 'miss' someone. Maybe there are more misses we just don't know about.

[Double Tap]

I find it interesting the amount of folks posting on how easy it is to hit at ??? range with a scoped rifle. Must be alot more armchair snipers out there than I thought.

I've been shooting high powered rifles for the last 25 years, and I can assure you that this mass murdering freak has some basic skills at what he is doing. He may not be a bonified military sniper, but he is better than the average joe.

Having worked at a local shooting range when I was younger, I can attest that a large percentage of folks can't shoot this well off of a bench, at a paper target. Much less at a human target.

[Trident/Delta]

You ALWAYS seem to crop up with JUST right thing to say that seems reasonable and rational, but with JUST enough vitriol to make me think that you are a sophisticated disrupter.

Semper Suspicious

[aristeides]

I was at the site of the killing of Pascal Charlot, the black Haitian, on Georgia Ave. in D.C. today. (I happened to be running an errand a couple of blocks north of the site.) Guess what? Three or four blocks north of where Charlot was when the bullet hit him is a Ramada Inn, also on Georgia Ave. (There was a Ramada Inn right across the street from yesterday's shooting. Law enforcement, according to today's Washington Post, was interested by the proximity of motels in several recent shootings of the sniper.) I didn't see balconies, but, because Georgia Ave. goes downhill as you go southwards towards where Charlot was, you would have a clear line of sight to him from the roof and from the upper stories of the Ramada Inn. And because the Ramada Inn is in Montgomery County, MD, whereas Charlot was just barely inside D.C., investigating the crime if the shooting was from the Ramada Inn would present jurisdictional difficulties.

[toddst]

I find it interesting the amount of folks posting on how easy it is to hit at ??? range with a scoped rifle. Must be alot more armchair snipers out there than I thought. I've been shooting high powered rifles for the last 25 years, and I can assure you that this mass murdering freak has some basic skills at what he is doing.

Having worked at a local shooting range when I was younger, I can attest that a large percentage of folks can't shoot this well off of a bench, at a paper target. Much less at a human target.

As you well know, many people who visit a shooting range don't have a clue what they are doing. Clearly our shooter does.

Many thousands of shooters (varmit hunters, for example) are competent to manage the shots involved in these incidents.

[fourdeuce82d]

you would have to aim at his privates

HEY- I was a private- I resent that!

[cyberaxe]

.....i think a better question is.....

.....trained at evaiding LEO.....

.....or just Lucky so far.....

[fourdeuce82d]

Sure, perhaps other citizens with weapons might apprehend the guy as your aorta spurted out the last pint of your precious bodily fluids..

Agreed- and here's another thought- imagine you're one of those other citizens- What do you see? what do you hear? A muted thump from inside a van/truck/ElCamino with a camper top...you''re a hundred yards away from anybody who got shot...

I'm not at all a tough guy-I'd like to think I'd step up to the plate and take a swing if I had to. Maybe I'd do okay, maybe I'd wet myself- can't say until it happens.

But even if I was a SEAL/Delta/etc.- What the hell would clue me in?

I think this is a real tough thing to deal with- this guy isn't 8' tall on roller skates with his hair on fire rolling down the sidewalk- he's hiding, he's inconspicuous, he's pretty slick.

I think the bottom line is carry always, and be prepared for God/chance/whatever to call you off the bench, but realize there's not a lot any one of us can do to stop him.

What we can do is give him a big "Osculate my Fundament"- by gritting our teeth, and going on about our business.

Of course that's pretty easy for me to say, given that I live in houston...

thoughts/prayers for the folks in the area.

[cyberaxe]

.....i think some of these shootings had the perp doing it from cover.....

.....(other than the cover of the famous "white truck").....

.....it a person stumbled upon the perp prone in the woods.....

.....geting ready to take a shot.....

.....my money is on the one holding the CWP.....

[GWfan]

From everything that I have read and heard on this, it seems to me that a team of people with considerable training are responsible for these shootings.

A mentally ill person would have some lucid moments, but these crimes seem very calculated and I doubt that a seriously delusional type could keep it together long enough to pull this off, for this long of a time period. The shooter also has not lost his cool and begun to blast away at more than one target when it was probably highly possible. Anger would lead to mistakes IMO, this shooter doesn't seem angry, rather, he is careful. Also, a mentally ill person may have reason to kill a few people, but most people do have a conscience. The killer seems to have totally supressed his, giving me the impression that he was trained to do so.

I also think that while it may be possible to learn to shoot accurately, it is totally different when put in a high stress situation, especially with the possibility of the shooter being captured. He has to hit his target and keep his cool and get out of there without being seen or caught.

These reasons are why I think that a team is responsible for the shootings, and that they were trained to do this exact job.

[CobaltBlue]

Sorry about the vitriol. I am just exasperated.

People are dying here, and I am hoping for intelligent commentary. Saying that the DC metro area is repressive about gun use is just plain wrong.

We have a family membership in the NRA. My family uses the NRA range for practice.

MD, DC, and VA are not the same when it comes to guns.

I don't personally have a concealed carry permit because I don't feel the need for one. We are armed in the house, and I carry my gun by my side, in plain view, when I decide to carry it in my car, and I place it in plain view when I drive.

But even so, I don't think it would protect me from this sniper.

[Khurkris]

The individual does indeed fit the profile of a sniper. The person shoots from concealment, hits its target and evades capture. The weapon used is irrellevant. The 'supposed skill neccessary' is irrelevant. The shooter is accomplishing exactly what they want to do.

I would offer that a more appropriate term, in addition to sniper, for this individual is TERRORIST. The shooter has terrorized a large segment of the USA by random actions that are successful.

Remeber - A terr has ALL of the advantages. The choose the time, they choose the target and they choose the method.

[fourdeuce82d]

.....if a person stumbled upon the perp prone in the woods..... .....geting ready to take a shot..... .....my money is on the one holding the CWP.....

yup- and I hope it happens that way. All I'm saying is much as we may want it to...it probably won't.

[cyberaxe]

as we may want it to...it probably won't.

.....i agree.....:-(

[Howie]

I didn't say he isn't a sniper, I said calling him a "marksman" is giving him too much credit. He may be a "marksman" and he may not. Hitting a standing individual in the chest at 100 yards from a rest, with a scoped rifle does not make him a "marksman".