Posted on 10/13/2002 1:43:35 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
US police have said they do not want to the muddy waters of an investigation into a sniper who has killed eight people and wounded two by releasing an inaccurate sketch, amid reports the meticulous killer circling the nation's capital has been sighted.
Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose was asked to comment on reports that the sniper who has electrified the Washington area has been spotted, and police are working on a composite sketch.
Chief Moose, struggling for the right words, said he did not want to "muddy the waters" by releasing an image to the media too soon.
"Please rest assured that when we have something where we are sure that the media can help us we will use that," Moose said.
"The concern is that we pollute the whole thought process, we cause people to have tunnel vision, think they see what they heard on TV and mix that up with reality."
The power of the media has taken center stage in the hunt for the shooter - or shooters, who has used a high-velocity rifle to slam a single bullet into 10 victims since October 2, eluding the largest federal, state and local manhunt in the history of the Washington region.
Chief Moose released a composite image of an older model, mid-sized commercial truck, with light damage to its right rear bumper and black lettering -- a row of large black block letters above a row of smaller letters, on each side.
Chief Moose said the white truck, which has a roll-up door at the rear, was seen at more than one of the shootings by more than one witness and he asked the media to distribute it widely.
He declined to discuss any of the witnesses further.
"None of the witnesses have been able to give us the exact wording" on the truck or its license plate number, Chief Moose said at a news briefing.
The chief said the image is generating new leads.
"Maybe he has had this vehicle repaired," he said, calling on mechanics and body shop workers to think back.
Investigators are working on a sketch of a second vehicle, described as a white Chevrolet Astro van, seen near the latest shooting on Friday, Chief Moose said.
"We're working with a sense of urgency" to get that photo to the public, he said.
Physical evidence has been scant, with one taunting clue apparently left by the shooter near where a 13-year-old victim was shot - a tarot "death" card with the words "dear Mr Policeman, I am God" scrawled on the back.
The cold, methodical killer, who picks off random victims while concealed in a sniper's nest at a comfortable distance, claimed his 10th victim and eighth fatality on Friday.
Kenneth Bridges, 53, a businessman and father of six on the road from Philadelphia, was killed on Friday at an Exxon gasoline station near a busy interstate highway in Virginia.
Thanks.
I think that if this guy COULD do this on the weekend, he would have today, as an in-your-face to everyone who said he wasn't active then.
.....might hold water.....
If this is an Al Qaeda operation, how come there are not multiple cells spread around the country?
"I am God" connection? TaRaRa found this on CNN site.Here
The goal of this operation is not the immediate damage they inflict when they kill a sniper target (distinguished from the Pakistan Church operation; or the synagogue or church attack--which is done in part to discourage church and synagogue attendance; or the 9/11 attack for that matter which had as its objective inflicting the damage that resulted and for which they were willing to incur 19 casualties); goal here is to interrupt the normal flow of commerce and force you to devote huge amounts of money and manpower to interfering with the attack which goal they have accomplished. Goal is to force you to try and make them stop which they accomplish by continuing to attack you.
Reason I would stop on Saturday and Sunday is that you don't have the usual predictable flow of commerce traffic on Saturday and Sunday and are thus exposed to having some unusual event obstruct your escape route--during rush hour traffic, the goal is to keep the streets open and flowing.
I also think that is why they have chosen most of the target times they have used--they have devoted planning to escape routes and related target locations. We didn't get them on Friday because they stayed off the freeways which we could shut down.
I'll bet for every Isuzu parcel delivery truck on the road there are 100 Ford or Chevy minivans. The truck would stand out in traffic like a sore thumb compared to these minivans. Second, putting lettering on the van only aids in identification. Think, the shooter takes a shot but this time a witness see the shooter in a large white truch with Fred's Market (or some similar logo) on the panel and calls the police. This truck could very well be spotted long before the shooter could repaint it. It isn't intelligent to put a large identifing tag on our get-away vehicle.
Your comment about the RPG laucher seems pretty far fetched. For one, this shooter is a coward. He runs from his hits an is unlikely to engage the Police in a shoot-out when the finally find him. Plus, if you have a RPG launcher mounted, why not use it for yoy initial shot as opposes to a .223. It would sure make a bigger statement.
I assume there very well may be and we may well see additional locations at some point in the future.
But observe this--Al Queda has not generally taken immediate direct credit for much of anything they have done to us; the embasey bombings, 9/11 to name two we know about; TWA 800 and the OKCity bombing to name two we suspect. I have assumed the reason why is because Ossama assumes we are as tough minded as he is--we could make them stop by responding forcefully; we bulldoze the mosque off the Temple Mount; or we nuke or threaten to nuke Mecca or Medina.
Facts are we could respond forcefully--if Ossama were president, he would have. He assumes we may be restrained by lack of certainty as to the perp. If we get the DC attack in ten other metropolitan areas, people will face reality.
So that consideration may operate as some restraint on what they would do.
Exactly.
I think you would lose that bet--the diesel powered Isuzu is the tool of choice in that market at the moment--they are everywhere. And maybe this particular truck is not the truck at all, maybe they used a Ford or Chev.
Maybe you are right about the sign although maybe you are really wrong--they gave enough thought to what the sign should say that the witnesses who remember the letters can't remember the words.
The shooter is not a coward and does not "run from hits"--he is a stratigic planner--part of his mission is to complete a large number of hits and so he has planned to conceal the hits from witness so that they can't give authorities enough data to apprehend the attacker.
However in this kind of operation, you might plan for a possible counterattack that interrupts your withdrawal--the larger truck permits you to carry around enough firepower to deal with any initial counterattack that local police authorities could mount.
Reason you don't use an RPG for the initial hit is the same reason you used the truck in the first place--the hit would be immediately detected so you don't do that. The objective is not to make a statement; the objective is to eliminate targets.
Hope they're not.
and you're being an asshole on multiple threads toward people who know at least as much about what's going on as you do.
suggestion ---> offer something of substance or shut the f*** up
"We're working as hard as we can," he said (Moose). "People are continuing to give us information; we're following up those leads. We want people to keep the faith and remember this is certainly not the first person or group of people who tried to change us or change the nation. So please continue to be resilient."
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