Man says he was sniper's first target

new york daily ^ | 10/20/02

[knak]

SILVER SPRING, Md. - It was just after 10 o'clock the evening of Sept. 14 when Arnie Zelkovitz showed his new employee, Rupinder Oberoi, how to lock the front door of his liquor store, located in a sprawling shopping mall here, literally seconds from an entrance to the Beltway. Zelkovitz and his wife, Adrienne Zelkovitz, planned to take the next evening off for Yom Kippur, so Oberoi would close up shop.

Heading to the parking lot, the 22-year-old turned back to wait for Zelkovitz when a loud noise rang out.

The young man twisted and turned, then crumbled to the ground, his head on the sidewalk, his legs draped on the macadam.

"I'm hurt. I'm hurt," Oberoi said as Zelkovitz rushed to his side. "I can't breathe."

Zelkovitz lifted Oberoi's shirt and noticed a tiny hole in his back, about the diameter of a pencil. Blood was oozing from around the edges. Bennie, as Oberoi is known, had been shot.

Similarities

Officially, the serial sniper attacks on the Washington metropolitan area would not start for 18 more days. But Oberoi and Zelkovitz say they now know different.

The scenario that unfolded outside Hillandale Beer & Wine more than a month ago has since become all too familiar: a powerful single round, believed to be .22-caliber, fired from a distance, in a shopping center parking lot, close to a major highway, no apparent motive and no shooter in sight.

"Call 911! Someone call 911!" Oberoi shouted.

The cops came that night. But ever since, Oberoi and Zelkovitz have become increasingly angry over the way they say Montgomery County investigators have mishandled the case, with a detective suggesting that Zelkovitz or Oberoi could have been the target of a hit man, a robbery or a hate crime.

"We've had the store 14 years and we've never been robbed. And I don't know of anyone who would want to harm my wife or I, or Bennie," said Zelkovitz, 50.

The Zelkovitzes and Oberoi are convinced that Oberoi was shot by the serial sniper, who officially has killed nine people and wounded two in 11 other shootings in the last 2 1/2 weeks.

Zelkovitz said he was sure Oberoi's case was linked on Oct. 2, when he heard that a sniper's bullet had fractured a store window at a Michael's craft store in Aspen Hill, less than 10 miles away, and that a man had been shot in the chest 44 minutes later while crossing a parking lot in Wheaton, just 7 miles from Hillandale. c The next day, there were five more shootings — all homicides, all relatively nearby — 8 miles in one case, three quick exits away on the Beltway for another.

[johnny7]

Obviously it is one of the dreaded young white male psycho serial killer types. Has Norman Bates gotten too old and tired to use a knife and switched to rifles?

Yea... maybe it's a clean-cut boy scout who thought “Bennie” was gay. HA!

The cops are letting us down big-time.

[Axenolith]

Then why not pick a few people off leaving Synogogues and Hindu temples?

Maybe the shots are crappy, or due to zoning they tend to be clustered around other churches and have to many people around them. Or the terrorist angle is wrong (which bodes ill for RKBA issues).

Be interesting to see how this phone number bit pans out. I can't believe the guy[s] would be stupid enough to call a number he\they left. Maybe when this was initially in local LEO's hands it would be remotely possible to attempt it but now there will be so much tracing and ELINT on that call people with pace makers in the area will grow younger.

The first rule of anyone who knows how to hack or phreak (phreaking being phone system hacks) is to NEVER attract the attention of the Feds because they have infinite resources and time to devote to catching you and you will get caught. If the call is made, they will be caught...

[antivenom]

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