Beltway Sniper Shootings-FR Commentary-Tuesday, Oct. 15

Fox News, CNN, Press Conferences | October 15, 2002 | Fox News, CNN, Press Conferences

[Peach]

To avoid multiple vanity threads regarding any news from press conferences, let's keep a live commentary thread going again today.

Note: This is the graphics-free thread. Graphics can be found under the thread titled "Beltway Sniper Shootings-Graphics Only"

[Miss Marple]

The light colored and white Astro vans are the same car. Lighting in parking lots makes it look cream colored instead of white.

The box truck and the Isuzu are the same truck.

The Dodge Caravan was an error, I think.

[walkingdead]

So I just got in this morning, have they connected this shooting yet? I'm sure it was the sniper.....

[hankbrown]

Here is a scenario: The shooters are several, part of a cell. There could be three, four, five or ten. Their plan is to work relatively independently, take shots whenever possible. They keep going until one of them is caught. The one caught will probably blow himself up or kill himself. The police will congratulate themselves that the shooter has been eliminated, people will start to go about their daily business without worry. Meanwhile, the rest of the group melts away, only to resurface a few weeks later in another city.

[Lucky]

I remember that. Enough with the PC. Close immigration, guard the borders, and guard the mosques. We are at war! What do you say?

[Mamzelle]

Did the witnesses see which side the shooter used to enter the van, what door? That might tell us if he has a driver.

[Guenevere]

The description I heard just a few minutes ago was...

LIGHT-skinned man.....

...hmmmm...~sarcasm

[lentulusgracchus]

Hey, tomkat, thanks! The aerials are just what the doctor ordered.....I was making do with ArcData Online while reading the Pravda Online article -- which turns out to be a guested piece from The Sierra Times[!]. Will wonders never cease?

In another column reproduced in Pravda, U.S. columnist John Stanton notices that the sniping spree began one day after Ari Fleischer made that "one bullet" remark. Five people died the first day. Datum noted.

[Kerberos]

"The DC Sniper Nest: None Dare Call it Terrorism"

Best analysis I have seen so far.

[Sacajaweau]

Very good thought...which side...we won't know but the cops know.

Sac

[xsmommy]

that's right, i forgot you were from this area. well you know exactly the streets involved also then!

[Robe]

Good mornin' all...
Got a question for you folks knowledgeable with the area.
From past postings there has been comments that this area is strongly Islamic/Mid-eastern...(not the last shooting but the overall area)
if so, has anyone done what Freepers do best and correlate the shootings with the proximity to neighborhood mosques?

[twntaipan]

It sounds reasonable to assume that a populace proven in the past to provide cover for terrorism in the USA (re: Jihad in America), will continue to do so until they are not allowed to do so.

[demlosers]

what my husband and i cannot figure out is how they got away quickly! even at night that intersection is fairly busy. This is 2 mi. inside the Beltway, but there are a ton of lights and all kinds of congestion between the Beltway and this intersection in falls church.

IMHO, they had a pre-planed escape and route mapped-out before they killed her. With an escape plan in place, they just waited in the parking lot or wherever for a target of opportunity. I think the killer is not a lone nut. They are hunter killer teams that do this with methodical planning. Shooting people at a distance with no apparent rhyme or reason is difficult things to solve. We can hope they make mistakes and somebody gets a good description that leads to there capture.

[ET(end tyranny)]

Hi Pete! Aren't you the one that predicts locations?

[angkor]

Why can't it be American fanatics?

It could be, but "American fanatics" haven't been rolling out a litany of murderous fatwas for the past three years.

[twntaipan]

Alot of us have assumed that this is an AQ-direct terror cell. What if it is an Iraqi terror cell?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Virginia Police Link Sniper to Latest Killing

Tue Oct 15, 9:26 AM ET

FAIRFAX, Va. (Reuters) - Virginia police said on Tuesday the shooting death of a woman outside a suburban hardware store on Monday night was conclusively linked to eight others that have chilled the Washington area over the past two weeks.

 

Reuters Photo

"Ballistic evidence has conclusively linked this case to others in the area," Fairfax County, Virginia police chief Thomas Manger told a news briefing, adding that the victim's name was Linda Franklin, 47, from Arlington, Virginia.

The deadly sniper who has shot eight people in Washington, D.C., and suburbs in neighboring Maryland and Virginia has also wounded two others.

[lentulusgracchus]

The right takes you to more traffic, more lights, more complication, the horrible Seven Corners intersection (not to mention right back to the scene of the crime). The left puts you on on a straight shot down Rt. 7, enough traffic to blend in, but not enough to impede your progress. And as another poster mentioned, plenty of places to turn off if you get skittish.

This had to have been scoped out well in advance by a person thinking "getaway".

These shooters seem to be very meticulous (almost diabolical) in choosing escape routes. By process of elimination, Rt. 7 east seems to me most likely.

Which takes them toward the big mosque xsmommy was talking about.

They know from Friday they have only a few minutes (5? 10? 15?) before the police begin swarming the area and installing roadblocks on all major roads. So where did they stop?

This is an Arab hit team working. Gotta be. This is no young-urban-failure, no Phineas-priest type, and no teeny thrill killer (though the Tarot card still sounds like it -- unless it was disinformation). Meanwhile, the same thing is going on in Kuwait, with loser assassins engaging armed Marines there. Plug it in, guys.

This is starting to sound real bad.

[jacquej]

This morning I am considering the possibility that there are many different shooters, from different small terror cells, located around the DC area and within walking distance of the malls, shopping centers, and gas stations.

Each has a date, spot, and approximate time to take someone out. They do so, and walk away in the confusion to their apartment, busy store, movie theater, or coffee shop of choice.

The rest of this is just making up stories on the part of LE and the media to explain away reality. What has turned my thinking this way is the description of the traffic snarls in the area of last night's shooting.

Shoppers carry bags capable of concealing weapons, don't they? Are dumpsters being searched for throw away weapons?

Not to say that decoy vehicles are not being used, of course, but it occurs to me that all possibilities are not being considered here, in the rush to pin this on a lone guyman, relieving LE and Government of the terrorism prospect and it's consquelae!

To consider the possibility of multiple shooters from different small cells blows the preferred theories out of the water, and really creates nightmare scenarios for LE, the courts, and the goobmint!

[angkor]

this area is strongly Islamic/Mid-eastern

Yessir, the largest mosque in Northern VA would literally be a 10 minute walk from the Home Depot.