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.
with modern sensationalizing media, the place is unimportant. it goes into everyone's mind.
On weekends, they all get together to discuss the next week. To those around them, it just looks like a couple of friends who often visit on weekends.
Sac
Maybe on the weekends, they scout out new "hunting" areas.
-- 6:04 p.m. Wednesday: James D. Martin, 55, of Silver Spring, Md., killed in Maryland grocery store parking lot.
-- 7:41 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 3: James L. "Sonny" Buchanan, 39, of Arlington, Va., killed while cutting grass at Maryland auto dealership.
-- 8:12 a.m. Thursday: Taxi driver Prem Kumar Walekar, 54, of Olney, Md., killed at Maryland gas station.
-- 8:37 a.m. Thursday: Sarah Ramos, 34, of Silver Spring, Md., killed outside Maryland post office.
-- 9:58 a.m. Thursday: Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25, of Silver Spring, Md., killed as she vacuumed her van at Maryland gas station.
-- 9:15 p.m. Thursday: Pascal Charlot, 72, of Washington, D.C, killed while standing on a street in the nation's capital.
-- 2:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4: 43-year-old woman wounded in craft-store parking lot in Fredericksburg, Va.
-- 8:09 a.m. Monday, Oct. 7: 13-year-old boy wounded as he is dropped off at Bowie, Md., school.
-- 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9: Dean Harold Meyers, 53, of Gaithersburg, Md., shot dead at a gas station near Manassas, Va., about 30 miles west of Washington, D.C.
-- 9:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 11: Kenneth H. Bridges, 53, was shot while pumping gas at Exxon gas station in Massaponax, Va., just south of Fredericksburg on his way back from a business meeting
I guess that means terrorists can't be hippocrites? Well ...these terrorists don't seem to respect anything--not the lives of innocents, not the lives of their children, not even their their own lives. Good moslems don't drink, whore around, or go to night clubs. Yet, the 9/11 guys sure had a good time in Vegas. Good moslems dont't do a lot of things they do. They aren't good molems.
That aside, the Tarot card is weird. I have no clue what it means. The shooters could ne home-grown nutcases, McVeigh reincarnates, or Islamic terrorists. We won't know until we know.
We can all understand why getting a photo of a white Chevy Astro Van is so difficult: there are none known to exist, nor are there any recorded photos of such vehicles. But with Moose on the job, I'm sure in due time he'll come up with something...eventually.
The Tarot deck now used in English speaking countries for predicting the future consists of four suits: Coins, Cups, Sticks, and Swords. It includes 22 picture cards, including a wheel of fortune, a hanged man, and a collapsing tower. Those who use the deck for fortune telling believe that the cards' images originated in ancient Egyptian rites and that the decks were used first for mystical purposes and later for games. These beliefs were so pervasive that they still appear stated as fact in reputable books on the subject.
Recent research does not support these beliefs. The Tarot deck appears to have developed in Northern Italy during the fifteenth century when the picture, or trump, cards were added to the deck then in use for playing games. This deck is still used in Southern Europe. The trump cards were added to play a new game called Tarot. The game spread north and west into Europe, and was popular in France until the early 1600's.
By 1650, the game had died out in France, although it persists today in Italy and elsewhere. The game long forgotten, the Tarot deck and its strange symbols seemed quite mysterious to Parisians of the 1700's. The first person to use the cards for divination was a French occultist named Etteilla. Other French occultists delved into Hermetic Greek texts. They mistakenly believed these were translations of ancient Egyptian texts. On the basis of this belief, they developed elaborate interpretations of the Tarot cards as representations of ancient Egyptian wisdom. Other French occultists tied the Tarot to the the Hebrew alphabet, the Jewish Cabala, and astrology. None of these is supported by historical evidence.
I wish I could remember what led to it...I think I was searching different Mosques for their historical significance, maybe because Atta (as a Planner/Architect wrote a paper on preservation or something like that..
Sac
Terrorists don't attack Arts & Crafts stores, but high viz targets ala the WTC. Why pick'em off one at at time when you could mow down hundreds like in Bali.
I think the people who live in and around these shooting sites feel terrorized.
Is there a rule that says all terrorist acts must be big and showy?
If they are terrorist, they may have limited resources (remember we have cut off some of their financing, and we have disrupted some of their command and control). They may have been activated to do something and this is the best they can do with what they have.
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