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Cops Hung Up Phone On Beltway Shooter(!)
Houston Chronicle ^ | 10/23/2002 | Sari Horowitz and Carri Morello

Posted on 10/22/2002 9:56:15 PM PDT by Dirk McQuickly

Edited on 10/22/2002 10:21:53 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

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, law enforcement sources said.

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


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; US: Maryland; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; graspingstraws; mooseisloose; pckillsinnocents; police; sniper; tinfoilalert
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To: BuddhaBoy
LOLOL!!!

Ok, now I can go to bed. Needed that comic relief!! :)
181 posted on 10/23/2002 12:38:37 AM PDT by bonfire
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To: BuddhaBoy
Damn right, I take it personal. He is a huge embarassment.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have thought for days that "the shooter" has requested that Moose be the spokesperson/contact...when delivering
"messages", Moose seems very rehearsed & uncomfortable.

With every agency in DC on this case, I find it hard to believe Moose is calling the shots.....

News today said up to 400 FBI are involved.....I don't
think the FBI just sent Moose 400 agents saying, "here's
400 FBI agents, just tell them what to do".
182 posted on 10/23/2002 12:39:34 AM PDT by txdoda
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To: Joe Hadenuf
Joe are you saying I'm not living in the real world? To be perfectly honest there's only so many ways to come out and say "...it's inappropriate yada yada yada...compromising ongoing investigation yada yada yada...".

Maybe a tall leggy blonde bombshell would be the ticket? Wouldn't matter how it's said just that the guys don't mind it being said by her.


183 posted on 10/23/2002 12:39:45 AM PDT by swheats
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To: DoughtyOne
You certainly don't remember the 1992 LA Riots very well. Gates was front and center much of the time.

You have no idea what I know of those riots. The only thing Gates did was to personally arrested football Williams, the perp that beat Reginal Denny have to death. That was televised. Chief Gates only appeared on three occasions to conduct news conferences during those 7 intense days of the biggest riots in American history. He did not give blow by blow news conferences during the riots. But he did utilize spokespeople to deal with the media on a hourly basis. Trust me.

I will say however, *after* the riots, the Chief was on TV quite a bit. Hehehe......

184 posted on 10/23/2002 12:44:47 AM PDT by Joe Hadenuf
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To: swheats
Maybe a tall leggy blonde bombshell would be the ticket? Wouldn't matter how it's said just that the guys don't mind it being said by her.

Huh?

185 posted on 10/23/2002 12:48:37 AM PDT by Joe Hadenuf
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To: Joe Hadenuf
And you have no idea what I know of those riots. Thanks for your comments.
186 posted on 10/23/2002 12:54:21 AM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: Joe Hadenuf
Ok I wasn't serious about the blonde, but just what would you like the professional communicator to say when he/she comes to the mic for daily press briefings? Until the LE shut down communications with the killer there's nothing that can be said in the way of info that won't hinder the investigations.
187 posted on 10/23/2002 12:55:22 AM PDT by swheats
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To: BuddhaBoy
If I seem a bit overzealous in my criticism, it is noted.

Hey, it's cool. I didn't take anything personal at any rate. It's totally understandable that people are upset. These type of predatory killers seem to reach right down to a primal level in people and make them afraid there. Maybe it's just the thought that there's a bogeyman out there- you follow? People get upset in a way that they don't seem to when they read about "ordinary murders".

I mentioned the Atlanta Child killings. I was in High School when that was going on- I lived about 40 miles south of Atlanta. It was terrible and the media coverage back then was nothing like today (CNN hadn't even been dreamed of yet- Ted Turner was only interested in showing Gilligan's Island on WTBS). Those killings went on for two years (if memory serves). It wasn't nice to go into Atlanta back then. People were absolutely terrified and there was a lot of criticism of law enforcement. A lot of accusations were made that the Police weren't doing enough because the victims were black. People thought the Klan was doing it. The FBI Profilers said it would be a black guy. Profiling wasn't a buzz word back then (it was basically unheard of) and this enraged a lot of people because they felt it was racial and police were trying to shift blame away from a white guy. But most serial killers tend to kill within their own ethnic group and the profiler turned out to be right.

What I'm getting at is, back then in the heat of the thing (and keep in mind- this lasted a long time) people had passed the point where they were long tired of hearing the excuses of the police, they were sick and tired of being scared and it was just ugly. The arrest of Wayne Williams did nothing to end the ugliness either because a lot of folks reckoned he was framed. It finally died away, but it is still a dark time in Atlanta's (and Georgia's) recent past.

This will end a whole lot quicker I think. Police have got this guy talking with them. That's what they want. That puts them in a much better position to nail the killer than if he had just kept his mouth shut. Every word he says and every demand he makes gives them another clue to use. The killer still has the upper hand because until he is caught, he can always kill again- but given the developments of the last day- things are definitely looking up in this investigation.

If you're in the danger zone- keep your head down, stay alert and try to stay cool.

188 posted on 10/23/2002 1:00:20 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
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To: DoughtyOne
I just happened to be two blocks south of Florence and Normandy when the people there decided to burn down the city and kill people. I'am not going to go into what I was doing there, but it was ugly....
189 posted on 10/23/2002 1:00:25 AM PDT by Joe Hadenuf
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To: Joe Hadenuf
Thanks for the additional comments. Are you going to be there Saturday?
190 posted on 10/23/2002 1:08:55 AM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: swheats
Look, it's just my opinion that this whole thing back there is not being handled correctly, as far as the Chief dealing with the media hordes goes.

And again, you can bet the rent, that if these murders continue, and Moose continues to conduct daily news conferences, he will continue to be the center of even greater negative focus.

Just my guess.....

191 posted on 10/23/2002 1:09:12 AM PDT by Joe Hadenuf
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To: DoughtyOne
Uh, no.
192 posted on 10/23/2002 1:11:47 AM PDT by Joe Hadenuf
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To: Joe Hadenuf
Roger that over and out.
193 posted on 10/23/2002 1:16:17 AM PDT by swheats
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
I think there is a better, simpler reason.

If they release the note to the public, then it becomes easier for the attention starved idiots in the world to craft fake notes and confuse the investigation.

194 posted on 10/23/2002 2:44:07 AM PDT by William McKinley
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To: per loin
I heard the same ABC radio report at 12 Pacific time. It was not in the 1 am or 2 am radio news.

Paraphrasing "ABC was shocked to learn that the letter retrieved Saturday night in Ashland, Va contained a list of six times the sniper had called the FBI hotline, had introduced himself as "god", but "inexperienced" had dismissed him as a crank caller"

No wonder the FBI and ATF aren't taking the lead in this investigation! They are using the local sheriff, Moose, to be the public fall guy for their backroom screw up! Remember Moose's cryptic words: "We do want to talk to you .... call again." Astonishing!!!!

Typical Washington coverup, secrecy in defense Federal (more FBI) incompetance, justified as for national security, or in this case for public safety.

Reuter reports in part the following[JoAnne Allen Oct 23 Washington]

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20021023_27.html

The Washington Post, citing unidentified sources, reported Wednesday that a message to police from the sniper demanded that authorities put $10 million in a bank account within two days or face more killings.

The angry letter, left at the scene of a shooting Saturday night in Ashland, Virginia, about 85 miles south of Washington, berated police as incompetent and listed six calls to the sniper task force that had been "ignored," the newspaper reported.

The threat to the children was part of the letter, Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Chief Charles Moose said at a news conference. "It is in the form of a postscript: 'Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time,"' he said.

A second letter was found Tuesday after the commuter bus driver was shot and killed, the Baltimore Sun reported.

The newspaper said Wednesday that the multipage letter, left at North Gate Park in the Aspen Hill area of Montgomery County, repeated earlier demands.

George Nori, host of ArtBell's show tonight talked about a French newspaper account that a crack military sniper has been missing from his unit since August and has been added to Interpol's wanted list. I did quite catch from the radio report whether the missing soldier was American or French. Can anybody give more details?

195 posted on 10/23/2002 2:50:58 AM PDT by Khepry
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To: Grampa Dave
The grammatical and spelling errors could have been done on purpose. Whoever is doing this is too smart to write something in their own handwriting full of mistakes. I think the note was written the way it was to throw off the investigators, not that it takes much to do that.
196 posted on 10/23/2002 3:00:31 AM PDT by DBtoo
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To: Dirk McQuickly
Not even Switzerland maintains bank secrecy when a demonstrable crime is involved. This obviously qualifies.
197 posted on 10/23/2002 3:07:38 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
There is a simple single reason why this letter has yet to see the light of day…

It would reveal the true identity and speak loudly of the shooter(s), they are terrorist. The letter quite possible contains such Islamic ramblings as anti-USA anti-Israel statements maybe even more…

The shooter could be a flaky Muslim. There are plenty of them that have lived in the US for years. He could have zero ties to Al Qaeda but wants to terrorize just the way they do. He has no access to explosives but he was able to get a  good rifle. Practiced and was taught how to use it years ago so no one connects him with this terrorism. He has driven taxi or limo so knows his way around the DC area. Many Muslims are in this line of work. Remember the shooter at the El Al ticket counter in LA? 

He could be someone who lived here/ then went to Afghanistan/ got some training, marksmanship training at one of Bin Laden's camps. But eventually got the boot because he was uncontrollable and crazy.

He could also be a foreigner who is not Muslim. There are many immigrants here who resent and hate the United States. Maybe he hates his American ex-wife or his American employer who fired him.

198 posted on 10/23/2002 3:21:34 AM PDT by dennisw
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To: Joe Hadenuf
Tell me Howlin, why are you so defensive of someone that is in the national, and now global spotlight, that cannot even pronounce simple English words. Someone that appears lacking, in professionalism, credibility, who's demeanor in several of the so-called news conferences was rather embarrassing.

Moose makes me cringe with all the PC words and phraseology he uses. Few days ago the moron was saying how the he was not too concerned about prosecuting the clown at Home Depot who lied his ass off, sending police etc. on a that day wild goose chase.

Moose looks terrible on TV and it's not the Ebonics either. I'll bet he's just as worthless off camera.

199 posted on 10/23/2002 3:29:27 AM PDT by dennisw
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To: per loin
The shooter is in our midst as we speak, scouting out his next victim.


BUMP

200 posted on 10/23/2002 3:41:51 AM PDT by tm22721
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