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

Associated Press

[valleygal]

"this guy should be tied up to a pump all night for a month..."

Pretty harsh, but kinda funny.

[areafiftyone]

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

The Moose Man said they might do that.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

but there were a few folks here on FreeRepublic who recognized this "witness" as a fraud as soon as it was revealed that he had been able to identify the murder weapon as an AK-74. While the perp was hurrying to get out of there. At night.

This bozo should be flogged.

[Alberta's Child]

This bozo should be brought to Guantanamo, and he should have a pair of jumper cables clipped to his balls every 20 minutes like they do to the rest of those detainees there.

[cricket]

"The announcement cast doubt on much of what the public thought it knew about the gunman who has terrorized the region for the past two weeks."

. . .short of the media getting excited over the gun ID; what additional info clouded 'much of what we knew'. . .

. . .the possibility of a cream colored van? Did I miss something more critical here?

It seems the investigators and the media are the ones who zeroed in on this; while ignoring what should have been more credible ID sources.

Maybe Chief Moose wanted the Media to hung on this one.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Actually he just might. And then he'd spend 5 minutes messing up the weapon to defeat the matching process. Per a California Dept. of Justice study quoted in the Wall Street Journal today, it's a "relatively easy affair" requiring "less than 5 minutes of labor". But it'd be time well spent if it'd get him crossed off the suspect list. Are the gun-grabbing California authorities actually smarter than the FBI? Scary thought.

[valleygal]

The guy that was on Greta the other night is named Robert (I think) Massis. He never claimed to see a vehicle or a gun. All he said he heard was a gunshot and Mrs. Franklin on the ground and lots of screaming. He was on Fox yeterday, complete with haircut, shave aand polo shirt.

He was kind of strange and I was suspicious of him, too. But I'm wondering if the person they discredited is the one thst said he saw the shooter step out of the van, take the shot, get back in and drive away. I have not seen the name of this "witness" released.

[El Gato]

LOL!!! Yeh, Ok. And what does he mean by "registered"?

Exactly! Neither MD nor VA has long gun registration, nor does it exist at the federal level. Legally that is. The Districo Federal, er that is the District of Columbia, does have registration, for all firearms. (I guess the second amendment doesn't apply in the District of Criminals, handgun sales are completely prohibited there, to the honest folks at least, and even possesion of a handgun (keeping) is prohibited unless the gun was registered before Feb. 1977).

[RLK]

Easier yet, just have too guns. Fingerprint one to get off the hook, then use the other.

[cryptical]

It sucks but you have to be nice and cooperate with these guys even though they may piss you off.

You absolutely do not have to cooperate with these guys. If a FBI agent wants to question me, they can talk to my lawyer. The person this happened to should contact the FBI internal affairs, and report this agents behavior. If he can't handle a simple phone interview without loosing his cool, he probably shouldn't be walking around with a badge and a gun.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Anything purchased from an FFL is registered. That's why you fill out all those forms and the FFL calls the feds and gives them your name and SS#.

[El Gato]

The Moose Man said they might do that.

Might? Deliberately giving false information to police in conjunction with a murder investigation is a serious crime. They might press charges?

[El Gato]

Anything purchased from an FFL is registered. That's why you fill out all those forms and the FFL calls the feds and gives them your name and SS#.

Actually the law says that the record of that transaction is to be destroyed after the transaction is completed. Doens't mean they do it of course. The law also provides that a registry of guns or gun owners, either by the feds or using federal funds is illegal. Ashcroft started destroying those records as the law required, and the gun grabbers sued him for it. They lost.

[William McKinley]

I wonder...

On this thread here the story included the name of one of the witnesses. Someone on the thread very quickly pointed out that something was strange about the guy's story (namely, how he went back to talk to the police about what he "saw" the next day, and not the night of the shooting). Someone else recognized the name and the way the guy phrased things and said that he thinks he knows the guy, and if it was the same guy he is a bit of a drinker.

If it is the same guy, Freepers were smelling a rat days ago.

[Old Professer]

Better stick with the Dark and Stormy night stuff.

[William McKinley]

See above.

[Asmodeus]

"they still believe the sniper is using one of a family of more than 30 similar assault-type weapons capable of firing a .223-caliber bullet."

Why not a scoped handgun?

Caliber Options: .22 Hornet MB22H MB22HMC .223 Rem. MB223 MB223MC .22/250 Rem. MB22250 MB22250MC .243 Win. MB243 MB243MC 7mm-08 Rem. MB708 MB708MC 7mm B.R. MB7BR MB7BRMC .30-30 Win. MB3030 MB3030MC 7.62 x 39 MB762 MB762MC .308 Win. MB308 MB308MC .30-06 Sprfld MB3006 MB3006MC .357 Maximum MB357 MB357MC .358 Win. MB358 MB358MC .35 Rem. MB35 MB35MC .44 Magnum MB44 MB44MC .444 Marlin
SOURCE

[M. Peach]

Your profile says you're from Arizona. Why do you think they called you who lives so far from DC?

[Britton J Wingfield]

That did not happen to me. It was posted by another person on thefiringline.com.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Nope. The law requires the FFL to maintain the records, where the feds can retrieve them anytime they like. Nothing at all stopping them from calling up every FFL in the country and ordering them to turn over records of every .223 weapon they've sold.