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"

[JameRetief]

Has anyone determined the exact time of the shot? All that I have seen so far is "about 9:15". If the shot was fired at 9:11, wouldn't that be something to consider as a possible message? 9:11 referencing the WTC attacks?

Which makes me think about the other times of attacks. Do any of those correlate to terrorist attacks? Like the time of the planes hitting the WTC/Pentagon? Or times/days when embassies have been hit?

Maybe the killer isn't being as random as we think. His victim might be random, but the times of the shootings might be specific to send a message.

Has this possibility been discussed anywhere before?

[Kip Lange]

Well, all the planted casings could be linked to a bogus weapon. No?

It wouldn't surprise me...not a bit.

--KL

[Garak]

Tomkat I'll be the first in line to pull the switch on this bastard. Do not condescendingly act like I'm being soft and suggest my wife is next. Pardon me for being actually curious who the real killer is, (or even killers), without assuming this is part of a madcap terrorist plot. You saw what terrorists like to do this weekend. They like bombs. They like making a statement by killing a bunch of people at once. If this had happened two years ago everyone hear would be decrying American culture for creating someone with such a sniper mindset. What's happened internationally has done nothing to change the fact that, like most serial killings, this is just another home grown nut.

[txhurl]

Here's the FBI/Australia plane downing thread

thread

[Kip Lange]

Do you have something productive and/or useful to contribute to the debate/speculation, Garak, or are you just trolling and flaming?

--KL

[texasbluebell]

No, Al Qaeda has clearly taken credit for 9/11 and Bali.

I don't think so. The Bali explosion hasn't been claimed by anyone yet. It's just that it's pointing in their direction or the direction of Jemaah Islamiah so far (and on another thread some are linking the explosive used to the Indonesian army). But no one has claimed it yet.

And did ObL actually claim WTC? I forget now.

[dinasour]

reporting from amish country

What goes Clop, Clop, BANG, Clop, Clop...

An Amish drive-by shooting.

[areafiftyone]

I can recall no case in U.S. history where this type of serial sniping occurred

Son of Sam, Zodiac Killer, Long Island Sniper. Maybe not the same random victims but victims of sniper shooting all the same.

[freeperfromnj]

btw, concensus of opinion here seems to think tarot might just have originated in the ME.

I believe it was Egypt. Shortly after 9/11 there were tarot card readers who thought that the tower card was somehow a sign when the World Trade Center collapsed in flames. Maybe it's their way to use pictures to convey a message, like they did with their evil calendars

[lentulusgracchus]

Sniper seems to want to meet some weird diversity quotas. Up to now, he has killed more men than women.

Remember that quote from Malcolm X that Spike Lee put up on the screen? If you want to dishonor the white man, reach for his woman.

[berkeleybeej]

Son of Sam was up close and personal. Ditto Zodiac. Guess you could classify Zebra killings as sniper - but that was definately race-based.

[helper]

I too live only a few miles from there, and I have my own profile. I think he is Hispanic, and works as a contract sat. dish installer. Reasoning is first, he has a job where he travels around the area. Both Montgomery county, the areas of Fredericksburg, and Manassas have a high concentration of dishes. I understand the truck has a silver(chrome) ladder rack, the Hispanics like to dress their vehicles up. Finally, I used to have a sat dish co next door and noticed about 90% of their contractors were Hispanic, came in to get their jobs at 7am, hit the road about 8:30.

The shooting last night was in a Hispanic area, and then he fled East on 50 which would have taken him into Arlington another large Hispanic population.

Some years ago businesses in this area would provide sevice all over the Metro area, but now with all the traffic and increased population density most stay in a small area. The only ones that seem to get all over the area are the independent sat and cable contractors.

[dhfnc]

That tape was pretty clearly taking credit.

Yes, but the credit is taken after the strike is over, not while it is ongoing.

IMO, too many Americans do not want to face the fact that ME terrorists are out to kill us anyway they can! Obviously, too many of us have forgotten Sept. 11!

[Kip Lange]

Okay, ignore my last comment, that was an interesting interjection. I'm probably with you on the "about 10%" figure right now. But wouldn't you say that's TOO DAMN HIGH? Normally I'd be saying "0% chance"...in fact, my feelings it might be terror (in the political sense) related has GROWN since the beginning of the investigation -- I'm waiting on that one piece of hard evidence that will get this guy. :-)

--KL

[tomkat]

Pardon me for being actually curious who the real killer is ...

pardon my urge to slap the shi'ite out of you for infering that the rest of us don't want the same thing,
while simultaneously not having our heads up our butts about the likelihoods in play.

[Smogger]

No, Al Qaeda has clearly taken credit for 9/11 and Bali. If these killings were going on in Yemen you might have a better case for saying it was Al Qaeda

Show me where they have taken credit. For the Cole, 9-11, Bali, Kuwait or anything else. Modern day terrorist who attack Americans DO NOT TAKE CREDIT!

I read plenty of print that said Al-Qaida was "pleased" that the terrorism took place, but I don't recall Osama or anyone else claiming credit. In fact I seem to recall them saying that they didn't do it and we couldn't prove that they did.

[evad]

That tape was pretty clearly taking credit.

That's true...but that was LONG after the feeces had hit the fan. There was no doubt in any rational person's mind by that time that OBL was the culprit.

We're talking about today's situation where noone has a real clue who is responsible and Al Qaeda is not going to step up and take credit because they never have in the past.

Later on, after they are proven guilty, they may then step up and admit/proclaim their actions.

[texasbluebell]

If people want to keep Muslims out, they should look at Lackawanna or Portland, and NOT THIS, for their justification.

Not so, there are 7 terrorist groups located right in the DC area, 2 Hamas, 2 Hezbollah, 2 AQ, and 1 group of Islamic Jihad. I'll post the link to the Emerson map if you haven't seen it yet. Here's the link, but I guess I shouldn't post the image, seems like we're non-image on this thread? Take a look at this.

Steven Emerson map

[Thisiswhoweare]

When I read your post, it jumped out at me seeing it written... the toll stands now, 9/11

Wow, might have something to do with it, who knows?

[browardchad]

I doubt that any non-Muslim knows how mosques work. In general, I know they're not open to the "infidel" unless escorted by a Muslim, and they exhibit more than a fair amount of paranoia (pre and post-9/11) -- with good reason.