Posted on 10/13/2002 9:17:06 AM PDT by 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...
Hmmm. Last time I checked a lot of it was white and 100% of it was green.
You are correct. Perhaps they why the young gang bangers can kill in such cold blooded ways.
Look at past mass murderers. Always, always a lot of shots fired for every hit made. Not this guy. He definitley has trained somehow for what he is doing. I doubt he is US Military trained, but so what. Lots of people who have never served will out shoot the majority of those that have served. But they are not novices. Nether is this sniper.
I'm not sure how much using a .223 points away from a trained sniper or not. You could be right on that but my 2 cents says the main reason the perp is using this caliber is because the blast (report) is substantially less than higher caliber weapons making his location harder to pinpoint. It's also a very common caliber which makes the job of tracing ammo, gun sales etc. that much more difficult.
I've been hoping that the killer is not a military trained sniper for this very reason. If the perp suddenly suspends his killings for a week or more due to the tremendous pressure the LEOs are exerting to get this Creep I think it raises the chance that we may in fact be dealing with a trained sniper of sorts. A Sick but skilled amateur probably couldn't control himself and would keep killing until he is captured or killed.
Well, his kill ratio suggests that he goes for the kill but yes, an actual kill may be less important to him than other motivations like injecting terror into the community and confounding the police.
I don't think a trained sniper would have been stupid enough to try to take a shot through a plate glass window, as was the case in one of the early attempts by the DC sniper.
Not only does the bullet deflect very unpredictably passing through the glass, but even light changes angle as it passes through glass (unless seen square on), making the actual position of the target different from where it appears to be.
It's very hard to make any accurate shots through plate glass, I don't think a trained sniper would have bothered with it (especially since this guy apparently is happy with any victim, and didn't have to take a risky shot at someone inside the store).
And the fact that he missed shows he wasn't aware of these issues (or was too inexperienced to account for them properly).
It's the only apparent link these folks have other than the fact they're all people. I don't see the victims being targeted for any apparent association. What's your point?
This guy or guys are evil, but lets not compare them to a man who killed an unarmed woman while she held her infant child in her arms. On second thought, they are comparable. If it does turn out to be him I am sure he will get off since it is okay if an FBI agent does it.
Most excellent point. I remember that well.
Actually, from what I have seen, the only ones making any claims to terrorism are the Palestinians. I do not recall Al Queda taking credit for anything that they have done to date. I am not saying that is is Al Queda, only that the lack of "credit-taking" does not rule them, or some group like them out.
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