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"

[Dog]

And about Charles Moose. He seems like a nice, well-meaning guy, but I cannot comprehend why he is the spokesman for this mess. Surely it has gone beyond his pay-grade by this point!

This one is easy.....they can't say we have terrorist operating around our nations captiol.....so we keep it in "local hands".

[Elenya]

LOL! No, I meant surveillance equipment in general.

[NittanyLion]

If one clears one's mind of biases, and looks at the evidence objectively and THEN try to form a conclusion, it's impossible to say with any confidence at all whether it's Muslim terrorism at all. But we've seen literally thousands of posts where people reach their conclusion FIRST that it's AL Quaeda, then they "mine" or even fabricate any evidence they can find to support their conclusion. That's backwards thinking.

True enough. That said, I would submit that with every passing killing where the sniper escapes, it's more likely an organization is lending support to him/her. And clearly Al Qaeda is at the top of the list of organizations looking to kill Americans and cause terror.

Certainly far from hard proof, but as these murders continue the scales tip toward terrorists (at least in my mind).

[Kip Lange]

More news on drones on Fox right now.

--KL

[eno_]

The trouble with a rental storage lockup is that almost all have security cams all over the place, and a guard at the gate that stands a good chance of calling the police if he sees a truck matching the description.

Mosques, on the other hand...

[jacquej]

Well, dog... I am beginning to smell what just might be a tasty aroma wafting from our sensibilities...

I like the frog experiment analogy better. The heat under the pot just might be increasing, and maybe we just do not have enough sense to jump out.

[Letitring]

Not to mention all us ordinary Americans wanting to get a look at one of them. None of us have seen this before, except for a glimpse on television. I know if I lived there, I'd want to see this. :)

[OReilly]

Suppose it's Iraq, using terrorists as proxies.

You mean like we used the Northern Alliance?

[aristeides]

Yes, James "Sonny" Buchanan (first victim the morning of the second day, Oct. 3) was the son of a retired Montgomery Co. cop.

[WRhine]

A "Bat Cave" in any metro area could easily be those Rental Storage garages that have popped up everywhere. They could base their targets depending on a rental garage that is nearby, to hide their van.

Very good insight...and one that I'd hope the LEOs have seriously considered and are investigating.

[FootBall]

Do you recall who posted about the alternating black/white victims?

I did....AKA AJ1

Alternating Black <-> White shooting pattern....
Last 7 shootings!

Next Black ?
12 White Female (per news conference)
11 Black Male
10 White Male
09 Black Boy
08 White Woman (I think this was a woman at Michaels)
07 Black Man
06 White Woman

1-5 Shootings was Meant to generate Media and Police attention.

I'm thinking the Sniper is shooting people equally who
are mostly associated to Historical America...White and Black race.

I'm thinking this could be Terrorist related.

[aristeides]

Could those garages be scoped out for their contents with thermal imaging?

[Miss Marple]

Pentagon has been going over records of sniper-trained people.

Rumsfeld has request for surveillance equipment and support on his desk, specifically, Predator drones. US military personnel would only be used in the operation, so as to avoid violating posse comitatus.

From Brent Baird, Fox News, Pentagon.

[Kip Lange]

You mean like we used the Northern Alliance?

We used the Northern Alliance to end up democratizing and freeing people from a dictatorship. C'mon, now is not the time for moral equivalency.

--KL

[aristeides]

And, speaking of alternation, yesterday's shooting upped the total of women.

[BiffSchneider]

"they have a "bat cave" - or more than one - where they can park the vehicle within a few minutes of this shooting"

That's assuming that they weren't familiar enough with the area to be able to get away on side streets. I'm neither familiar with the area nor do I know whether the cops were blocking off side streets as well as the freeways.

But, assuming they were able to park it within the search perimeter, the cops should be able to cross-reference car registrations with likely parking places. The white box truck and the cream color van most likely don't have much people contact. Otherwise, someone would have turned them in already.

Your phrase "bat cave" is probably fairly accurate: these cars most likely aren't parked on the street or in a lot where a lot of people can see them. Most likely they're parked in a place that can't be easily observed, like a private garage or behind a house. And, wherever they're parked is probably next to a busy highway and doesn't have too many neighbors. Otherwise, lots of people would be able to see the truck and/or van coming and going.

If they aren't parked in a rural area, I'd look for places in a deserted industrial area, perhaps next to some form of natural protection from being observed. Such as railroad tracks, a freeway sound barrier, and the like.

Perhaps FReepers from the area would like to suggest possible area locations that like.

[eno_]

Ow! But that's probably the way it is. Al Quaida is what you get when the locals take their CIA training and turn it against civilian soft targets. It isn't as if every one of "our guys" in an overseas op is an angel who puts down his gun and goes straight when the revolution is over.

That's another reason why I think this is an AQ op: It has a wierd mix of military discipline and random violence in it.

[ARCADIA]

I've just thought the chances that this guy was doing much of this on foot have been high from the beginning. The first 4 shootings happened quickly within a fairly tight geographic area. Why didn't he (they) change areas that day?

I thought that, too. I think he was walking around that area. It must be a rifle that can be taken apart quickly into smaller components.

If they actually have more than one witness in this last shooting that is SURE they saw someone get out of a van - shoot - and then leave in the van, I will believe it. But until then I still think this guy carefully sets up a position based on a good line of sight from a position of some distance.

Absolutely. I think the witnesses are repeating what another said about the van in this shooting. It could be a mistake, or whatever.

He shot from the dark area across the street. Just like he shot from the wooded area across from the gas station last Friday. And from the wooded area across from the school.

[carton253]

According to John Ashcroft, it is kept in local hands because of the death penalty. Both Maryland and Virginia have it. If the Feds take it, then the death penalty is off the table. But the Feds are helping in the investigation.

[Kip Lange]

Does anybody know what the train tracks are like around that area, out of curiosity?

--KL