Posted on 10/13/2002 3:27:06 AM PDT by VaMarVet
WASHINGTON — As frustrated authorities try to close in on the sniper who's been randomly murdering Washington-area residents, a complex interplay has emerged among the perpetrator, police and press.
The sniper has been responding to police pronouncements in ways that are both respectful and taunting. It seems he has adjusted his tactics in defiance of police statements and strategy — a pattern of behavior that experts believe could help lead to his capture.
When police noted that the sniper strikes during rush hour, he picked off his next victim at 9:15 p.m. When police began discussing the "geographical profile" of the targets, the shooter left a 10-mile attack zone to shoot a woman in Virginia. And when officials insisted schools were safe, the sniper shot at a 13-year-old boy in front of his school.
These shifts in tactics suggest the killer is closely following the news coverage about him, and that introduces a third player: the media.
Police have relied on the media since the shootings began Oct. 2 — holding many briefings in the hope that the public will call in clues — but they have also lashed out at journalists for reporting leaks.
"It can become a sadistic game of cat-and-mouse," said University of Georgia sociology professor Dean Rojek, referring to the killer's response to police statements in the press. "There is an element of sadistic cleverness that emerges out of a psychopathic sickness."
At the scene of the 13-year-old's shooting, the sniper reportedly left a tarot "death" card, scrawling on it, "Dear policeman, I am God."
The press obtained this information and disseminated it to the public, prompting Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose to angrily accuse news organizations of interfering with the investigation.
Yet it was a police source that evidently leaked the information, hoping it would alert the public to look for an individual familiar with tarot cards.
"I have not received any message that the citizens of Montgomery County want Channel 9 or the Washington Post or any other media outlet to solve this case," Moose fumed to reporters last week. "If they do, then let me know. We will go and do other police work, and we will turn this case over to the media and you can solve it."
Yet the police, for their part, have not hesitated to use the press for their purposes. They have labeled the killer a "coward," for example, apparently to taunt him into making a mistake.
And Saturday, after police confirmed that a man killed Friday in Fredericksburg, Va., was the sniper's latest victim, investigators released their first wanted poster — composite images of a white box truck.
The two images, based on witness accounts from more than one shooting, show a flat-front white truck with a roll-up door in the back, a weathered paint job, a small dent in the back bumper and unknown dark purple or black writing on the side.
Some of the investigators' best leads have come from public tips, and Moose said that with each briefing comes an increase in citizen calls.
But he insisted that is not the reason newsconferences are held.
James Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston, said the sniper is clearly reacting to the messages police are relaying to the public, and the police would do well to keep a close watch over the intelligence they release.
"I think they need to be real careful," Fox said.
"Because it may have more impact on the killer than the community."
For example, he said, there is a good chance the killer will now switch cars after the widely publicized reports about the white van seen leaving the shooting scenes.
"I'm just hoping that they don't inadvertently challenge the perpetrator to change his plan in a more deadly way," Fox said.
And he said the police tactic of asking the killer to turn himself in is not necessarily the smartest move.
"It's perceived by him as being begging, which intensifies his feeling of power," Fox said.
Fox and other experts in mass murderers and serial killers said there is one thing about the sniper that jumps out: He seems to be killing to create public fear rather than to settle a grudge or inflict pain on his victims.
"I've just never seen a serial killer whose motivation seems to be to create terror in the community rather than to see his individual victims suffer," said Fox, who has written books on serial killers.
"What is extraordinary is that there are no multiple shootings and only one shot per victim. So his enjoyment is not in the killing. He is killing for effect. He doesn't care who the victims are."
The sniper's 10 victims — two have survived — have been an eclectic mix of races, young and middle ages, male and female, with no apparent connection to one another, unlike the victims of most mass and serial killers, experts said.
What the sniper does seem to care about are police officials and the public's reactions, and he seems to be watching every police news conference, experts said.
When Moose cried at a news briefing, the sniper was probably gratified, Fox suggested.
"He has shot 10 people, but he has put fear into millions," he said.
"This guy's motivation is that he just wants to be in control" Fox said, noting that most mass killers are driven by grudges or ethnic hate or rage against the world. "He has lived a life of disrespect, and now wants to gain some respect, and he is getting it by creating terror."
Rojek fears that the constant media attention may even feed the sniper's desire to kill again.
"The 1st Amendment is dear to my heart, but there are times when it can harm society," he said.
Maybe that's because you're techically dealing with a terrorist and not a serial killer, Mr. Expert.
Everyone involved with this case acts like they're in complete denial.
They yapped on incessantly like this about the LAX shooter, too.
Who do they think they're fooling?
Unless the shooter has cut gun ports in the sides, front or ends with a sliding cover.
As I recall... when this burst onto the national news... that witnesses remember the vehicle(s) as:
(a) A box truck, similar to the composite.
(b) A white cargo van.
(c) A white Chevy Astrovan
(all of which wouldn't be confused with each other) except now there is the report of faded lettering on at least one side of the 'box'.
If the sniper keeps to this pattern of taunting the cops, I expect we will soon see a reporter shot. There was a mention of how there are cars that are placed as to block the vision of where the press conferences are given. He may take this as a chaalenge, although I don's expect the shooting to occur at a press conference.
I agree...
I believe that the killer waits until he sees a white van type of vehicle, and then fires his gun, so that there will be many eyewitness reports of a white van.
Reports said that a few of the shooting locations were near hotels. Could he be shooting from a rented room? Is that why he doesn't act on weekends (three night minimum stay? lol)
I just hope they catch him soon.
Boy what a fantastic observation. They just refuse to use the "terrorist" word. This shooter isn't responding to anything other than his own agenda and timetable. I look for him to continue until its too dangerous to him to kill in the area. Then he'll relocate and begin again.
The man is a trained killer. Why do the press refuse to say this?
The treasonous 'mainstream media' routinely milks sensational crimes involving small arms for all they're worth.
They hold up the bloody shirt and use the crimes as props in their propaganda war against the Bill of Rights.
On a deeper, more unambiguously criminal level, they do what they can to attempt to incite 'copycat' crimes of the same nature.
By incessantly repeating the minutiae of each event and repeatedly stressing the mechanical details of these crimes, they provide a primer for would be 'gun criminals' while at the same time providing that limelight many such deranged individuals seek.
Hell, for all we know the so-called 'media' may be operating from a script, triggering staged events by sleepers programmed to commit such acts.
Not true. There are no hotels near any of the Montgomery County shootings (and its not likely they went to four hotels in 2 hours in any case). There is no hotel near the Bowie shooting.
Keep it simple, it's a driver and a shooter in an inconspicuous vehicle with darkened windows, or perhaps the Astro panel van. They shoot from inside the vehicle, and calmly drive away.
These guys use simple (if completely diabolical) tactics, and they stick to them. They change their geography, but not their methods. In fact the only thing they've changed so far is to stay away from the Beltway, as in the Mont. County shootings. It must have really spooked them to be stuck in rush hour traffic.
For that reason I don't think they'll do anything inside the Beltway, unless its for a "grand finale" in which the expect to be caught.
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