[kristinn]

Puts a new wrinkle on Call 911 and die :-(

[HiTech RedNeck]

So we should go stick the money in the account. It won't do him, her, or it any more good than a paper money ransom would. If anyone tries to transfer or withdraw funds from it, we have a connection.

[umgud]

I wonder what country this account would be based in?

[MTCJK]

"Thank you for calling the sniper hotline....due to the overwhelming success of this program, our operators are unable to take your call at this time....for instructions in Spanish, please press 2"

[cyncooper]

...or else there would be "body bags,"

This must be what was referred to yesterday as "entering a new, more dangerous phase".

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

[SubMareener]

This is starting to sound like a Jeffrey Deaver novel. ;-(

[First_Salute]

He's rebelling against a menu-driven life.

Hmm...

[MTCJK]

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.

This murderer proves how easy it is to commit the crime every step of the way--complete incompetence has marked this investigation at every turn. This guy will be caught on his own terms, but not before

[Fred Mertz]

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

[HiTech RedNeck]

(This is the Ponderosa letter.)

[Brett66]

I wonder if he would try shooting Moose? Such a bizarre series of killings, maybe he'll try something bold like that. Moose gives a lot of outdoor press confrences.......

[MissAmericanPie]

This is just crazy, even though they can't afford to pay this guy, the level of incompetence is just staggering. Not only could he not get them on the phone, they couldn't even find his note nailed to a tree after searching for clues at the crime scene.

I don't think people should stay home, they should stay under their homes, because this guy can keep on killing until he wipes out the entire D.C. area and these keystone cops will never find him. He could be the only survivor driving the only white van left down 95 and the only surviving cop would wave him through right before the sniper turned and shot him on his way to new territory.

And guess what...it's probably not much better any where else.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

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."

Lends more credence to the perp being a foriegner. He obviously has had no prior experience dealing with US government agencies: DMV, Post Office, Zoning Commissions, etc.

[secretagent]

The article mentions the anger in the voice of the caller. This tells me that they have an audio of the caller, unfiltered, that they could release to the public.

[Luis Gonzalez]

We'll give him the $$$ and he'll stop shooting people, just like North Korea quit building nukes after X42 gave them money to stop building nukes.

Yeah, right.

[cricket]

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

. . .seems like getting to the heart of this problem sould be easier than it is. . .

. . ."incompetent" and in broken english, so we are told. . .

. . .YES, deposit the money electronically and then 'follow the money'. . .

[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.

[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.

[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.

[cricket]

This does not sound like 'broken English'. . .just uneducated. . .