Witness may have given fake story about shooter, van, weapon

Associated Press

[GovernmentShrinker]

More likely he's just one of those nuts who'll do anything to get attention and feel important for a while. Like the loonies who confess to high-profile crimes they didn't commit. He needs to be dealt with harshly and publicly.

[browardchad]

"asking registered owners of .223-caliber guns to bring them in for ballistic fingerprinting"

That'll do it -- picture the perp dutifully showing up at police headquarters with his .223-caliber gun and a deck of Tarot cards....driving a white van with a ladder rack.

This case is close to being solved, yes indeed.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Doubtful. The perp(s) is extremely skilled and thorough. This guy's story was seriously questioned by a number of freepers within an hour or so of its publication, and completely dismissed by police within two days. He's just a random incompetent jerk.

[RLK]

A firearms safety instructor said the FBI has been asking registered owners of .223-caliber guns to bring them in for ballistic fingerprinting.

-------------------------

Right. Like a terrorist is going to walk in, give his name and address, then have his weapon fingerprinted before he mounts an attack. So how long has the FBI been hiring the mentally handicapped as part of a community reach-out program to the neurologically disenfranchized?

[TC Rider]

Drag 5,000 hundred dollar bills through a trailer park and there's not telling what you'll turn up.

[Alberta's Child]

More likely he's just one of those nuts who'll do anything to get attention and feel important for a while.

Like Jesse Jackson did after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, right?

[EverOnward]

Any witness information will not be credible UNTIL the authorities can pin this on a white guy. Message to all white guys driving white vans: better have an airtight alibi because the authorities are looking for YOU.

[Thommas]

Whoa...

Welcome to the machine, Comrade. What a lesson in democracy...

[Britton J Wingfield]

That didn't happen to me, but to another member of thefiringline.com bulletin board. I would have put on my 'obstructionist @sshole' hat mere seconds into the conversation.

[Frapster]

the witness is the perp - he knew he couldn't get away this time so he stashed his weapon and then hung around to give misleading information /tin foil hat off

please ignore me - i'm clueless

[areafiftyone]

Sounds like this cop has a huge ego problem (alot of them do). It sucks but you have to be nice and cooperate with these guys even though they may piss you off. You already got on the wrong foot when you had that tone on the first phone call. Even though you apologized he must have been fuming and festering the whole time before you called back. He was going to give you a hard time whether you apologized or not. But I think you handled it well and don't worry I think he was scaring you just to see you squirm. I really doubt he would have sent anyone - er - maybe the SWAT TEAM!! ;-).

[Republic]

He's just a random incompetent jerk.

Either that, or he was right on target and the police are now relaying info to cloud the issue to prevent panic. To prevent an outbreak of anti-arab hysterics, etc.

[EverOnward]

Your experience illustrates clearly that the authorities will not rest until this entire episode is blamed on a white male. Scary -- very scary.

[texasbluebell]

This guy's story was seriously questioned by a number of freepers within an hour or so of its publication, and completely dismissed by police within two days. He's just a random incompetent jerk.

You must mean the guy who was on Greta's show, I suppose it was Tuesday night. He just didn't seem right to me either; he didn't seem serious at all, and was grinning strangely, too much for seeing a brutal crime like that.

And his name wasn't broadcast, I noticed, in the crawl, at least I didn't spot it, but others had said that this area has many Iranians in it, which is what I was suspecting he was. He was the one who said it was a white guy shooting, IIRC.

[babaloo999]

Dude, I hope you have a good lawyer that you won't need to help you get your firearms back.

[aBootes]

Haven't seen this level of confusion and dis-information since Vince Foster and the Keystone Cops, er DC police...

Sure you have. Chandra Levy.

[Merovingian]

To Repeat:

I missed the news conference..When this was announced, did any of the stellar reporters ask what is being done to this false witness, because I would be frying his ass to the greatest extent possible to make an example of him for anyone in the future who may entertain the idea of drwing BIG attention to him/herself at the expense of this investigation.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Yikes! Time for you to move to another location.

[TheLurkerX]

Ahhhhh, yes... The sniper will bring in his gun, and we will have him!

If they really thought this guys story was false, they would have pressed charges on him by now for filing a false report.

More CYA on the governments part. I think they were spooked by the story earlier that concealed carry requests had skyrocketed in the immediate area, and gun purchases had gone up 500 percent. They're afraid of widespread vigilante craziness against muslims.