this guy "flustrates" me... After this is over we need to investigate how many died because of cops competing to see who could save face first by capturing the perp(s) on their own. Meanwhile, this ebonics crap has got to stop!
Posted on 10/15/2002 1:40:44 PM PDT by Scalia Rules
In the USA it's Osama. USAma is politically incorrect because it has USA in it.
this guy "flustrates" me... After this is over we need to investigate how many died because of cops competing to see who could save face first by capturing the perp(s) on their own. Meanwhile, this ebonics crap has got to stop!
I guess I have a gut feeling that it would be somehow easier to find this sniper to be a terrorist. That way we don't have to see it as the random acts of a whack-job which are virtually unpreventable. At least if it is terrorism, we already have forces, leeway, and dollars mobilized to that kind of organized effort. There isn't anything one can do about a citizen nutcase until he kills.
Well, like everybody else who's been paying attention to this, I've been looking for some sort of consistent pattern. The reason I think that the FBI clerk's shooting was random, is that to think the contrary would imply that all these shootings were some grand plot to cover up the assasination of the FBI clerk, and I don't buy into that, it's too far-fetched, tinfoil hat stuff.
I'd say the best clue so far is the witness who allegedly saw somebody step from the vehicle, point the rifle and shoot the FBI clerk from 40 yards away. That's pretty specific, if it's accurate. It's also a radical departure from his MO in the previous shootings, where he showed consumate skill in NOT being seen. It was very brazen and almost as if he was flaunting his superiority over his pursuers and victims. It was sloppy, or else it was an intentional clue, like the tarot card.
I wonder if the witness was able to tell what kind of gun the shooter was using. Because if he says it was a military style semi-auto, where's the brass from the last shooting? Even this could be a false lead put out by somebody just wanting their 15 minutes of fame.
If you check out the crime scenes, it becomes obvious that all these shootings took place very close to a freeway exit/entrance. Most of the shootings were within a couple of blocks. I think this last one was the farthest from the freeway. So I think it's a fairly good assumption that whoever is doing this is selecting victims who are close to the freeways, and until this latest shooting, taking his shots carefully so there are no witnesses.
Most of the shootings have been outside the beltway, and if you plot the days when there were multiple shootings, they start out in the suburbs and work their way back toward northern DC. That's probably where he lives.
The multiples occurred on the first and second day of ths shooting spree. I get the feeling that the perp was surprised and amazed at how easy it was in Aspen Hill, so on his way home, he stopped off in Wheaton and did it again. Then he went home and watched the news. And at that point, they knew they had two shootings, but they didn't even know if they were related.
On Oct. 9, he went into the northern suburbs again. Starting at 7:41 AM, he went from the White Flint area (Montgomery County) to Rockville, Md, then from Rockville to Silver Spring, then Kensington, where he made his 4th shot that morning. Then he probably went home and watched the news.
By then the heat was starting to come on, but he was so flushed with success that in the evening, he needed another adrenalin fix, so he went into downtown Washington for a "capper".
After that, the heat was on so bad that he couldn't risk doing multiple hits, so it's come down to one per day, except for the days he misses. And he has missed both weekends so far. He also stayed home yesterday, when they started announcing the Feds were going to step in.
The man shot in Washington and the FBI clerk were the only shootings inside the beltway, and they both occurred in the evening. Maybe this means something. Maybe he goes on "day trips" out into the outlying areas, but if he still needs an adrenalin rush in the evening, he sticks close to home.
I think this guy is sane enough to adjust his tactics to avoid getting caught, and to him it's an evil game he is playing.
Of course, this doesn't really imply anything WRT who he or they is/are. He's cocky, that's for sure. He could be an Al Quaeda operative, or just another loser with a grudge against society.
They will get this guy when he overestimates his own invulnerability and underestimates the resources that are against him. In other words, when his cockiness overrides his caution.
Pretty speculative stuff, IMHO. What's your take on this?
This bears repeating. This would be an interesting modus operandi for John Q Public...and if word got out on this bumper car technique then we would catch these snipers faster. Time to keep Todd Beamer in mind!
People do NOT try this unless you are at least as well armed as the perp you ram. And you must be prepared to kill. Most people are not, and finding out that you are one of those after ramming an armed terrorists car may prove fatal to you, armed or not. Better advice...get as good a discription of the shooter as you can while making yourself the smallest possible target.
Never thought of that. Of course the implication here then is that all these other shootings have been a smokescreen to cover up the assassination of a low-ranking FBI employee, and that seems to be quite a stretch.
Monday was a Government holiday. Less traffic to disappear into. (Or mommy and daddy are home so the kid can't go out and play)...
This is just a hunch... If you look at the pattern, we had two days of multiple shootings in the northern suburbs. The evening of the first day, there was publicity, but they hadn't yet determined that the two shootings were connected.
On day 2, he shot 4 people in the morning, and after that, the was no doubt that all these shootings seemed to be tied together. At that point, a very disorganized manhunt was beginning. He had finally gotten their attention. And just to drive the point home, he went out and shot a guy in downtown DC that evening.
Now, he's watching FNC every time he's home, because they are the "All-Sniper, All the Time" network this week. He knows that the authorities are mustering in Montgomery County to begin a serious hunt for him. There are roadblocks beginning. So he decides, just to throw them off, to go off in a completely new direction - many miles to the southwest, far away from the previous shootings, yet still easily accessible by freeway. Because he knows that the search is concentrated in the northwest near suburbs. That's why he chose Fredricksburg, I think.
After that, he purposely bounces around rather than conform to an easily identifiable pattern. He modifies his MO based upon the intelligence he gathers from the news.
Probably because his early multiple shootings were done in an information vacuum. The first day, all they knew was the had a couple of shootings in the DC area, nothing all that unusual about that. After the second day's carnage, he knew that the element of surprise was gone, so he couldn't risk multiple shootings, and he had to take his handiwork someplace he hadn't been before, because Montgomery County was too hot.
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