FBI HAS ASKED PENTAGON TO SEARCH RECORDS FOR GI’S WHO HAD GONE THROUGH SNIPER SCHOOL

Drudge Report ^ | 10/13/02

[Brian Mosely]

FBI HAS ASKED PENTAGON TO SEARCH RECORDS FOR RECENTLY DISCHARGED GI’S WHO HAD GONE THROUGH SNIPER SCHOOL, FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS TELL TIME

Nearly 1,000 People Working On Sniper Case, Including ATF Units, U.S. Marshals, and State Police

FBI Creating Animated 3-D Computer-Graphic Displays to Reconstruct Crime Scene, In Hopes of Jogging Witnesses Memories

New York -- The FBI has asked the Pentagon to search its records for recently discharged GIs who had gone through sniper school, federal law enforcement sources tell TIME. The schools teach snipers to work in tandem—one as the spotter, the other as the shooter, TIME’s Amanda Ripley reports.

An estimated 1,000 people are working on the case, including Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms units, U.S. Marshals and state police. The FBI. is creating animated 3-D computer-graphic displays to reconstruct the crime scene and help calculate the sniper’s position, in hopes of jogging potential witnesses’ memories, TIME reports.

The Science of Catching a Killer If there’s any consolation for horrified Americans watching the drama of the sniper slayings unfold, it’s that now, more than ever in history, officials have the skills to catch so slippery a killer, TIME’s Jeffrey Kluger reports. Even as the shooter—or shooters—taunted investigators by picking off more victims last week, police unleashed an unprecedented arsenal of tools to crack the case: geographic-profiling computers to try to pinpoint the killer’s location, ballistics databases that might link his unique bullet markings to other crimes, and trace-substance technology to lift whatever clues (fingerprints, DNA) might adhere to a shell casing or a tarot card.

But investigators are less dependent than ever on chance, and what they’ve unveiled this week is only a sampling of what they have in their high-tech kits, TIME reports. Perhaps the most futuristic—and controversial—of the new crime-busting technologies is a procedure known as brain fingerprinting. The principle behind the technique is that when the brain processes an image it recognizes (as opposed to one it has never seen before), it emits distinct electrical impulses that are detectable by scalp sensors. A positive response to a photo of a crime scene may mean a suspect was there before; a negative response may help confirm an alibi.

TIME.com Person of the Week: Charles A. Moose For his role as the unofficial spokesman for the sniper investigation, Charles Moose is TIME’s person of the week. This strong-willed, inveterate leader wants to do it his way — a tall order when you consider the masses of media, federal police and FBI agents swarming around each new crime scene — and second-guessing every move that's made.

Developing...

[rockfish59]

How about the guy on the right?

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

Isn't it even more likely that it would be a bored POLICE SWAT team sniper? After all, who could better elude the blue?

Nah, couldn't be . . .

[hosepipe]

[ Isn't it even more likely that it would be a bored POLICE SWAT team sniper? After all, who could better elude the blue? ..........Nah, couldn't be . . .]

You've collared the wrong moron...

[madison10]

He's saying it isn't the shooting, it is the evading that makes this person good.

[bimbo]

Fortunately / Unfortunately, Charles Moose's jurisdiction does not extend beyong Montgomery Co. Maryland.