Angry Missive Complains of 'Ignored' Calls (Details of Sniper Letter)

The Washington Post ^ | Wednesday, October 23, 2002 | Sari Horwitz and Carol Morello

[kristinn]

An angry letter found tacked to a tree behind a restaurant where the sniper wounded a man this weekend complained of six failed attempts to reach police, and threatened more killings -- of children in particular -- if millions of dollars were not deposited in a bank account within two days, according to law enforcement sources.

The letter listed half a dozen calls that had been "ignored" by operators answering phones at the command center in Rockville, the Montgomery County police station and the FBI. It even named some of the people who had answered the phones.

They had hung up, the letter stated; that was "incompetent."

"Five people had to die" because of it, the letter said, according to one law enforcement source who has seen a copy of the letter.

The letter gave a deadline of Monday for the money to be deposited in a bank account, the source said. Several sources who had seen photocopies of the letter said the amount demanded was $10 million.

The letter warned investigators that if they were more concerned with "stopping" the killings than making an arrest, they should follow the orders precisely, or else there would be "body bags," said the source.

And it ended with an even more ominous postscript, officials said:

"Your children are not safe anywhere at any time."

SNIP

[Southack]

So what sort of personality writes "I am God" and then pays attention to the names of the police receptionists who diss him (and doesn't have experience dealing with ordinary, daily bureaucrats)? Moreover, what sort of criminal cares that the police are "incompetent" enough to be angry rather than gleeful?

[keepvotin]

To my ears it sounds like a possibility of multiple deaths at once---like a bomb.

A few more days of sniping one at a time would produce some bodybags.

[Southack]

So would he more likely be civilian or ex-military to be saying "body bags" instead of caskets??

[Lion's Cub]

I only believe about 20% of this article. Judge for yourselves.

It certainly doesn't fit with everything else we know about this/these guy(s). He certainly hasn't shown any signs of deterioration in the field, and he is most definately patient.

This seems like a dangerous game to play by uping the ante this way if you are dealing with a nut (and we aren't); so I can only conclude that they believe he/they is stable enough that this must be aimed at the sheeple.

God, Im tired of circles within circles...

Which brings up the question: "Who were those masked men who were not arrested but "turned over to INS" instead?

BTW, if anyone wants to read this article in full without having to accept the WP cookies, he can do so at http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/1629020

They even have a printer friendly version :)

[swheats]

Hopefully there's a way to track each call to see if he frequents those places often or a tracer on his phone or something. This guy has left "prints" all over the place.

[PleaseNoMore]

That is what I am saying. Follow the money. Surely we have 10,000,000.00 to work with ans surely it is worth a try to prevent any more deaths of innocent people.

[.30Carbine]

This guy will be caught on his own terms, but not before...

Beg to differ:
He will be caught by an armed citizen.
In Jesus' Name, amen. (:

[Cvengr]

The first mistake in dealing with a criminal mind is to sincerely believe one's rationalization will reduce the criminality.

The issue isn't justification, or cause and effect, it's control.

[aristeides]

"Five people had to die" because of it, the letter said, according to one law enforcement source who has seen a copy of the letter.

This letter was sent at the time of the shooting in Ashland Saturday. At that point the sniper had killed 9 people (now 10). Presumably he could not know at that point whether the shooting victim would survive or not.

So, at the time he made this statement, he was thinking he had killed either 9 or 10 people. That means he started phoning the tip number after either his 4th or 5th victim. At the end of his shooting spree on the morning of Oct. 3, he had killed 5 people. Since presumably he would not have made his call in the middle of the spree, this presumably means he started calling at the end of the spree that morning, Oct. 3.

At that time, the tip number did not yet exist. But there were other numbers that people were being asked to call then. I wonder if any record was kept of the numbers from which calls were being received.

[aristeides]

Be kept the names of people who answered the phone. I wonder if Linda Franklin was one of those people.

[aristeides]

# 69, 70.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

911 is a joke. I mean it.

In my city they ask you 10 million questions and take ages to send someone.

[L,TOWM]

Actually, my ummmm, "ideas" in this matter come from my current profession. The killer can get his funds clean in a variety of ways. It is a fairly sophisticated process logistically, would need to be in place now, and would take some seed money. But it can be done with just the killer, one domestic bank, and a few offshore banks, with an existing account.

[Snowy]

I wonder if he would try shooting Moose?

.... Oh nevermind. Too easy.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

But then again, I sometimes get the feeling that we don't have the varsity team on the field.

Some say FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Incompetency.

[L,TOWM]

One thing that occurs to me as my coffee kicks in; this may be a massive extortion operation being carried out by the Russian Mob. A former SPETZNAZ operator would certainly have the training needed to execute the set up, the shooting, and the E&E techniques to get away from the area. His buddies would (presumably) have the money laundering part already set up.

Back to my coffee, and I'll stop thinking out loud...

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I love it - what a great idea. Civilian roadblock system.

[ARCADIA]

"Five people had to die" because of it, the letter said, according to one law enforcement source who has seen a copy of the letter"

No wonder that they didn't want to make the letter public.

[ARCADIA]

The killer's behavior in the field contradicts his behavior on the phone.

Very true!! I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the sniper is a one-trick wonder.

[Snowy]

Some say FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Incompetency.

How many people are old enough to remember what movie the following line comes from?

"Now I know what the FBI stands for... F%$#ing, ball-busting Imbeciles!"