Beltway Sniper Shootings-FR Commentary-Sunday, Oct. 13

Fox News, CNN, Press Conferences | October 13, 2002 | Fox News, CNN, Press Conferences

[Peach]

To avoid multiple vanity threads regarding any news from press conferences, let's keep a live commentary thread going again today. Please stop by the Prayer Thread to leave a prayer for people in the target area http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/767040/posts

[Merovingian]

see #238

[tgslTakoma]

One thing about the speculation that the sniper is shooting from inside his truck/van. If stopped shortly after shooting, wouldn't LE smell the gunppowder smell?

I still keep going back to idea that this guy goes to his shooting position (outside and far from hit zone) much earlier, and lies in wait for a victim to pass into his hit zone. Then he shoots, packs his stuff quickly, leaves the area in opposite direction from the commotion he has caused, gets into a vehicle (not a white van/truck - just a coincidence that they are seen in area - tons of them on the road, that you could look up at any given moment and see one in traffic) and departs.

[spunkets]

"Perhaps someone who is from a city that has this group"

The Guardian Angels are a national club that has chapters in many cities. Their pimary reason for existence and focus is community service in the form of assistance to community social programs and are noted for placing themselves on the streets in areas undersiege by thugs. They are nonreligious and do not associate with, or tolerate criminal activity.

[madison10]

That sounds awfully complicated. I don't think the shooter has that much brain power.

[tgslTakoma]

These people ,(unless they're too afraid to leave their homes and vote) will jump at the chance to ban guns.

hmmm... let's hope that they are too afraid to leave their homes and vote. And let's hope that the gun owners get out in massive numbers and offer rides to fellow freedom lovers.

[tgslTakoma]

Exactly.

[Shooter 2.5]

After searching through all of the media guesses, I think what they said was they matched the ammo. They're still in the discovery stage as to how to make this into a dreaded, evil, black, high capacity, sniper, assault weapon with a bayonet lug.

[Sacajaweau]

I don't think it's that complicated.

We just get tunnel vision...a guy firing from a vehicle with a rifle got planted very early on.

Totally different from a shooter with a concealed weapon (backpack), dressed in chiefly green clothes, stealthing along tree lines, and walking away for some distance until he feels free. Then he makes a call as to where he is and someone picks him up.

The spotter would be behind the sniper watching his back. That's why both the sniper and the spotter (who is listening to a police radio) didn't see the cop on the last hit.

Why was that cop there?? Forgot the details already.

Wonder about the TIME of the hit and the TIME the cop that was there was dispatched and if it was on the police radio??

Sac

[Long Cut]

I keep coming back to this...you have to look at the BIG PICTURE sometimes. Look at the last 30 days or so:

1. Two separate cells of AQ'ers captured, with evidence indicating similar attacks planned;

2. U.S. Marines attacked, TWICE in two days by AQ'ers;

3. French tanker attacked, COLE-style;

4. Finnish (Helsinki) bombing;

5. Bali Massacre;

And all of this as the U.S. ramps up to destroy Saddam Hussein.

Amid all of this, an EXTRAORDINARILY good sniper, skilled in exfiltration as well as shooting, begins operating in the Maryland/Virginia/DC area. He/they violate or ignore all known serial killer/mass killer profiles.

Think about it...this is part of a wider, worldwide effort. At the very least, this possibility should be examined and dealt with. The old FBI "profiling" methods, while excellent and time-proven to work well (if not foolproof), do NOT take the prospect of a terrorist attack (military-style, organized, supported) into account.

Full disclosure, I am NOT a military sniper, I only shoot recreationally, and I'm only an Enlisted E-6 in the Navy, so I could be wrong on all of the above. It all, however, seems too well timed to be anything other than an organized, coordinated attack on targets of oppurtunity worldwide.

Am I totally offbase? We ARE at war, after all. The enemy could be expected to strike at us again, in his own way, no?

[Dog]

Cop was there for a fender bender.

[madison10]

The complication was all the word associations that the person I posted to was coming up with...not in response to your theory. Yours is totally plausible. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Dog]

Did you see that thread yesterday about one of our counter-terrorism experts getting killed in a small plane accident in Aussie land???

[Sacajaweau]

Add to that, the recent tapes of UBL and that other creep that was talking about "codes" and Atta and the two cells that were taken down.

That's a lot of News coverage and a lot of possible "Go" signals.

Notice that there was no hit on the 8th, the day the decision was being made on the NY cell bail issue.

Sac

[Dog]

Here it is....

U.S counter-terrorism expert killed...

To many things are going bump in the night...

[Dog]

Would you know if they found a rifle with a scope when they arrested the Bufflao AQ gang? I was told they did.

[Sacajaweau]

Sorry, I misunderstood. Sometimes we get wrapped up in the petty things. We can pick those pieces up later as you can badger them to death.

I think the big thing is where and how do we place a net around them??

I think there's a good chance we'll get him the next time out.

Sac

[Sacajaweau]

Dog: Don't know but I'm going to look at both the cells in regard to what they found.

Sac

[Lion's Cub]

I don't believe you are off at all.

Most of the minds here are still fighting in the past. They haven't made the paradigm shift yet.

It's sort of like the British who insisted on staying in formation because that's the way it was always done. I have every confidence, though, that this shift will be made as more Americans begin to grasp the concept.

[Long Cut]

I know...we here in the U.S. tend to focus narrowly on one problem or event, IMHO, ignoring seemingly "unrelated" events around the world. Many elites had the same problem during the Cold War. How, they wondered, could an insurgency in Africa be related to a bombing in Central America, or to IRA activity in England? That the answer was the Soviet Union via the KGB was considered impossible, at least by those who should have known better.

We face just as determined an enemy now, and far more bloodthirsty. And as 9-11 showed, only a small number of individual terrorists can wreak severe havoc, given motivation and training.

The sniper situation, IMHO, is a perfect reason to activate a civilian militia, calling out all able-bodied men and arming those who have no arms, and forming patrols, escorts for women and children, etc. It makes me sick to see that so many so-called "men" are cowering right now in their homes, afraid. It is the ENEMY who should be afraid now, OF THEM!

I do note that the Sniper DID NOT choose to attack areas more Southern, and given to common ownership of arms. There ARE still areas of America where one's dignity still counts for something.

Unfortunately, the idea of "calling out the Militia!" probably never occurred to those in charge, either after 9-11 OR the Sniper attacks. It would certainly free up resources for the war, while maintaining an excellent "homeland defense" who REALLY WERE defending their homes.

[RipSawyer]

They do if the camera is set up for that distance, the question I would ask is why would the camera be set up for that distance.