From Reporter To Sniper In Less Than 1 Hour

WLWT Cincinnati ^ | October 18, 2002

[Shermy]

WLWT Eyewitness News 5's Sheree Paolello set out to prove that the Washington, D.C., sniper doesn't necessarily need to be an expert marksman.

Many people think the sniper must have a military background or police training, but with minimal training and no prior shooting experience, Paolello was hitting the center of a target in less than one hour.

At 5 p.m. Thursday, Paolello and Joe Blanco, the owner of Target World, traveled to a farm in New Richmond and set up a firing range. Blanco spent 10 years in the military and is a qualified expert in all U.S. Army firearms, Paolello reported.

"It just doesn't take very much thought to look through a scope, align cross hairs and pull the trigger. And we're going to find that out," Blacno said at the beginning of Paolello's training.

Blanco set up a shooting scenario as similar as possible to the Washington, D.C., shootings.

"These shots are being taken within very close ranges," he said.

"It is not known what type of weapon the sniper is using or if the sniper is using the same weapon each time, so Blanco picked one he thinks is similar.

"The more accurate firearms are going to be bolt-action instead of semi-automatic so this is a bolt action in .223 caliber," he said.

Just 35 minutes after setting up the firing range, Paolello -- having picked up a gun only twice before in her life -- kneeled to take her first shot.

It passed through the center of the target.

"That's how easy it is," Blanco said.

After three shots through the bulls eye, Paolello moved on to a harder target: two quarters taped side-by-side to a target. She fired six shots at the quarters and hit both; one shot went right through the center of one of the quarters.

The time: 6:10 p.m., less than one hour after Paolello first pulled the trigger.

Her experience proved Blanco's theory that the D.C. sniper may not be a sniper at all.

"I would be surprised if he's military trained," Blanco said. "If he is, he's very sloppy. He's shot 11 people and only killed nine. I don't mean that to sound bad, but a sniper wouldn't have missed."

Stay tuned to WLWT Eyewitness News 5 and ChannelCincinnati.com for updates on the sniper shootings.

[MHGinTN]

IMHO, that is the result of how he was trained to do this, as in al Qaeda camp like the upstate New York Islamicists were trained.

[joesnuffy]

It also makes the point that single-shot, bolt action weapons are mroe accurate than the "assualt" weapons

wrong again...they can be but not necessarily check out a Ruger 10/22 mag chambered in 17 HMR or any good smithed AR....unless you are talking bench rest quality...then again the wt. factor comes into play...

the fact is...they cannot and havent matched up the bullet fragments with the spent casing..they truthfully have no idea what type of weapon was used...

yet the media pundits and even Mark Furman is saying semi auto...even though they dont have a clue...they are still pumping the military rifle..

.Even if they do find a casing from the same rifle that the first casing was fired in they still have dick

...because the bullet from the victim at the shooting where the first casing was found doesnt match up with that first casing anyway...

At any big rifle range or at camp perry or NRA or CMP matches thousands of rounds of empty brass are thrown away or picked up by range custodians or by guys who reload or sell scrap

The shooters only had to hang around any range and pick up somebody elses brass and they have some nice evidence to salt the crime scene with...perhaps even from someone from the area who complied and turned in their weapon to be balistically fingerprinted..

Hells bells they cant convict the biggest rapist in the history of govt. with 30 witnesses ...

Kennedy was shot by Oswald and a magic bullet Martin Luther King by another trick shot Vince Foster was a wanderer McVeigh blew up OK City with fertilizer The Branch Dividians started the fire Randy Weaver...well thats another story...but the killer got away there to... Elian Gonzalez well thats what he gets for surviving.. and a Senator on a big defense committee is locked out of a military base and not allowed to see the kid while he is worked on by a Cuban psychiatrist...till the kid confesses he wants to go home to see Uncle Fidel..oh yeah and his dad...and he doesnt care to see Mary Elases again? I hear hoofbeats and Im pretty sure those horses got stripes... :) FOX just switched from an AR logo to an AK...they gotta shock to deliver their audience to the advertiser...

Silverman of NBC once stated that the ONLY moral duty TV has is to deliver the audience to the Advertisor..

. Each talkning head and each network compete to do just that ...and baby anything goes... And the truth is relative and the first casualty of war and ratings are war...winning is everything..

[glc1173@aol.com]

""I would be surprised if he's military trained," Blanco said. "If he is, he's very sloppy. He's shot 11 people and only killed nine. I don't mean that to sound bad, but a sniper wouldn't have missed."" (WLWT Cincinnati)

NO sniper would totally miss a stationary man-size target at under 150 yds. - and these guys did.

Whatever else they are, they aren't snipers or terrorists. U.S. military marksmanship has suffered in recent years - so it's possible that either or both has been through post-Nam basic training. But not any sniper training.

Just how skilled are the Washington "snipers?"

[babaloo999]

The whole piece seems to have the subtext that the sniper rifle does the killing all by itself. Where have we heard that before?

An oldie but goodie

[185JHP]

Females tend to have "fine muscle control" that is better than males have. When riled as youngsters, they will pinch more often than punch. A female Marine from Uvalde, TX set a record in basic training some years ago. Females can be fine shots. Shooting at targets isn't the same as shooting at human beings, though.

[Polybius]

Ms. Paolello admits in the article that there was "training" from Mr. Blanco, and the average person does not have free access to a firearms expert like Mr. Blanco to provide coaching.

As a 13 year-old Boy Scout, I did not have an "expert" coaching me. I just coached myself with a book. Within a few months, I had earned a Sharpshooter rating with an iron sight, non-competition rifle that belonged to our Troop.

Marksmanship is not a black art. All you need is a little study and practice.

[.30Carbine]

Something of the natural marksman in women...

I concur. I submit that this is the result of the woman's ability to take in all the pertinent information simultaneously. Much in the same way that a woman can make love to her husband (and thoroughly enjoy herself) while simultaneously planning dinner, reminding herself to pick up little Suzy at dance class in an hour and then run little Bobby to Boy Scouts...oh, there's dust on the ceiling fan, gotta clean that...etc., women have the ability to calculate velocity, windage, yardage, ambiant temperature and moisture level, compensate for the barrel site which is slightly out of alignment, know the phase of the moon, the pretty orange outlines of the little squares on the target, the position of the sun, the position (and attitude) of the on-lookers, that her safety glasses look really cool and her hearing protection is messing up the hairdo she spent an hour on, and all other relevant and irrelevant facts and statistics in the single instant it requires to squeeze the trigger.
We're just blessed that way. ( ;

As I remind my husband often, we women use our whole brain! When Rush Limbaugh insists that half his brain is "tied behind his back just to make it fair," he obfuscates.
Women know you men can't really help it.

[I had way too much fun with this post.]

[Woahhs]

Ms. Paolello admits in the article that there was "training" from Mr. Blanco, and the average person does not have free access to a firearms expert like Mr. Blanco to provide coaching. The reporter seems to want to convey the impression that Joe Sixpack walking down the street could -- having never touched a gun before -- find a rifle lying on the ground, pick it up and suddenly be transformed into an expert sniper.

Nonsense. I received absolutely no training what-so-ever, and taught myself. I am now consistantly capable of shooting better than one half minute of accuracy with my favorite scoped rifle. That translates into being able to hit a five inch target at one thousand yards. My only instructional aid was reading the gun magazines available in every supermarket in America.

I don't know where you got your impression that the report says you can find a rifle on the ground and be transfomed into an expert sniper, but I strongly believe it has more to do with your attraction to hyperbole than it does anything this little puff piece had to say. The point is...it's just not that hard.

[Woahhs]

If you have never dropped the hammer on a large animal let alone a human being your ability to punch paper is no big deal...

You've put your finger on exactly why I think this is terrorism Joe. This shooter is either a totally deranged psycho (doubtful in my mind for many reasons), or just not a member of our society. I think in his mind, he was shooting Americans, not people.

[KeyLargo]

"Oh my oh my. Can't we just all get along."

Gee, if we could only ban those bad, bad guns.

[mhking]

And the point of the story is......?

You beat me to it - this is yet more "ammo" that the gun-grabbers are going to try to use to paint the right with as broad a brush as possible.

[daylate-dollarshort]

[smoking camels]

yeah... when I was a kid I had death threats on my sister if she ever told how she would outshoot me.

[sam_paine]

The reporter seems to want to convey the impression that Joe Sixpack walking down the street could -- having never touched a gun before -- find a rifle lying on the ground, pick it up and suddenly be transformed into an expert sniper.

To the contrary, this article is puts a damper on the "must be an angry white ex-US Army sniper" crowd. Plus, it also puts the lie to "assault weapons" are more dangerous. Plain old hunting rifles....which everyone even in the gun grabbers....claim not to want....are just as much a sniper rifle as anything. All you need is intent.

What we should be doing now is getting all gun grabbers on record RIGHT NOW. They get away with incrementalism when they say they don't want to infringe on hunters' rights. Well, step up now! Since they really do want your hunting/sniper rifle, let them say it!!! This can kill the incrementalism strategy and force them to confront us head on. More articles to build on this one, please.

[sam_paine]

So I start throwing stones at her and tell her to try for the same accuracy under stress....and she gives me 'the look'.

Throwing rocks at an ARMED woman??

What an idiot!! What are you, a Palestinian?!?!

;-P

[wku man]

"This clown is no sniper, he's simply a shooter. He's as different from a sniper as a jack-lighting poacher is from a hunter."

Thank you! I'm glad someone realizes that there's more to being a "sniper" than merely shooting from a concealed position. The word carries a connotation with it, of a certain level of skill and going after political or military targets. This guy or guys, or women, or whatever, just like Charles Whitman and other sickos who've committed similar murders, is not a "sniper", but merely a nutcase terrorizing helpless, unarmed civilians with a rifle, and not being particularly skillful about it.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[xsrdx]

[I had way too much fun with this post.]

I'll nominate your post #27 for the FreeRepublic post of the year, or decade, if there is such a thing.

I had no idea sexuality, firearms, external ballistics, astronomy and hair care could be so seamlessly related in the same thought without being vulgar, but you did it...and well.

[xsrdx]

to do this deed in public this many times and egress out with no solid witnesses?

Concur - these guys have more skill than most are willing to admit. Punching holes in paper from a bench is a world away from shooting moving, live targets from imperfect positions in poor lighting, while 25,000 police, and plenty of armed citizens, are doing all they can to find and kill you.

These guys have killed 9 people with single shots from a rifle most on this forum would consider unsuitable for medium sized game - his hits have been well placed, consistently, under a wide variety of conditions.

That's not accidental, or the result of a day or two at the range.

[teeman8r]

you are soooooooooooo wrong!!! we can dial two numbers, 9-1-1- and that 800 number for the fbi.... what is it again? 800-duck and cover... something like that... /sarcasm