Cops Hung Up Phone On Beltway Shooter(!)

Houston Chronicle ^ | 10/23/2002 | Sari Horowitz and Carri Morello

[Dirk McQuickly]

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.

[per loin]

But what about the reports of a foreign accent. Disinfo?

BTW, I wonder what would have happened if the police had not acknowledged recieving the letter. Would he have gotten so angry that he'd personally come down to the police station to complain?

[MPB]

If there were any good cops left after the PCing of the various police forces, good cops would have taken that letter to every school in the DC metro area. They would have meet with all the teachers and given them a copy of this writing. I can guarantee you that a good teacher would remember if they had a student who wrote like this. Then every teacher who retired in the last 20 years should get a house call from their local cops with a copy of this letter. Of course that is real old fashioned cop work, not today's Diversity Queens planning the next Diversity Quilting party.

Don't you realize we're talking about the DC area? Don't you realize that probably 80% or more of all high school "graduates" from the DC schools have problems forming complete sentences when talking, much less when writing. :)

Show that letter to the teachers there and you'd have a list of tens of thousands of names of former students that it could be.

[hole_n_one]

For arguments sake, let's go out on a limb and assume you're competent.....

What would YOU do then?

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

But what about the reports of a foreign accent. Disinfo?

Maybe he was eating a steak sandwich from ponderosa

[Freedom4US]

Apparently, he (murderer) called 911 several times and they (trainees) did not realize who he was - so they hung up on him, not once, but several times. Also, he's apparently very abusive i.e. "Shut the he$% up and listen" etc. It's also not beyond the realm of possibility he is using one of those voice altering electronic gizmos, they did trace one of his cell phone calls to the gas station they had staked out, netting a couple illegals. Another time, he played a tape recording into the phone itself which was near impossible to understand, that is why Chief Moose asked for him to call back.

[Grampa Dave]

The problem with wooded areas around restaurands and road stops is that they are littered with trash.

However, were blood hounds used.

They should have every trained bloodhound on the east coast in the DC metro area. The next sniping they should take the best dogs into the wooded areas next to the victim as that is where the sniping is being done not the famous white van.

Let the best dogs get a scent and start tracking. Good blood hounds can follow a scent in a car when the air conditioner or vent is on. Our skin and hair is constantly shedding and some will be emitted/forced out of the car via the normal micro holes in the doors and windows. Good dogs can follow this emitted scent from shedded skin and hair for miles.

If the shooter is on a bike or motorcycle, the dogs can follow him to his buddies with the get away vehicle and then follow that vehicle.

Sure beats having some Diversity Queen hanging up the phone on the sniper because the sniper doesn't sound like a redneck gunnut cracker.

[Dirk McQuickly]

One more time: I'd either turn the investigation over to someone (or some dept.) more competent or demand the feds to come in with their unlimited resources and have at it. Moose is clearly in over his head.

Read: I'm not saying I'd do any better, but there's too much at stake to be playing Instant Message with a terrorist when we've got illegal aliens using payphones who need deporting....

[Deb]

She'd be gone and the idiot who assigned her the duty would be gone.

But I doubt there would have ever been a bobble-headed, female trainee mucking up Hoover's FBI.

[cynwoody]

Would he have gotten so angry that he'd personally come down to the police station to complain?

You mean, kinda like back in '93 when Mohammad Salameh came around to the rental agency to reclaim his deposit on that truck that got lost in the WTC garage?

[Grampa Dave]

Many of us have been saying this all day. That was how the unibomber was finally caught after about 20 years of PC jerking off.

However, the reason to visit the schools and talk to the teachers is a lot of people will not see that letter if it is in a newspaper or on tv. When good cops come to a school and get the principal to call in all of the teachers, they all end up looking at the letter and some synergism might happen.

[per loin]

Yes. Even if the hounds could only trace to the spot where the killer entered a vehicle, that exact location could be broadcast to the public to jar memories of anyone who had seen a vehicle at that precise location.

[Dirk McQuickly]

Call his bluff. Stop pussyfooting around and bring the heat. Convince him he's going to lose this battle. If he believes he's got the upper hand -- that he can move with impunity -- he will . Stir public anger, not fear. Tell him about the footsteps behind him -- about the sites on THEIR snipers' rifles. Get him angrier, not happier. His emotions will overtake his steel. He'll slip up. Someone else may die, but he'll make a fatal mistake in trying to prove a point. Not much consolation for the dead, but their blood already cries for justice...

What would YOU do? Hold a press conference?

[TexKat]

Was there anything in that letter about Reparations? /

No, but they did request for a year's supply of fresh white sheets.

[hole_n_one]

I was just somewhat surprised to see that after a full scale police investigation of a crime scene that I would assume included a complete forensic analysis that there would be that much garbage within that same area a mere 24 hours later.

[per loin]

Exactly. Anyone who's ever bargained in the Suq understands how insistantly an Arab negotiates.

[Grampa Dave]

Good teachers will remember the hand writing and how the person puts words together.

The PC attitude in policing is not to do anything like this as it is real police work, and the data/clues gathered may take you anywhere. Places where the PCers have not even thought about.

[Grampa Dave]

You are right. If that garbage came from the possible site where the sniper fired his weapon, everything should have been picked up.

[Tarheel]

Also, he's apparently very abusive i.e. "Shut the he$% up and listen" etc.

This could be a problem--the guy is quick to fly off the handle, poor anger management, immature--this does not bode well for any negotiating situation. Hope this is not a situation of a 'short fuse'. That remark can be interpreted a couple of ways.

The Tarheel

[stlnative]

But what about the reports of a foreign accent. Disinfo?

Yes or he had a mouth full of snuff. BTW, I wonder what would have happened if the police had not acknowledged recieving the letter. Would he have gotten so angry that he'd personally come down to the police station to complain?

No he probably would have sent his elderly parents, but he killed them on the farm right before he started his DC killing spree, I say start looking for family murdered inside their rural home who have been dead for about 3 weeks and you will find the sniper's picture on the mantel inside the home.