Beltway Sniper Shootings-FR Commentary-Thurs., Oct. 24,2002

Fox News, CNN, Press Conferences | October 24, 2002 | Fox News, CNN, Press Conferences

[wewillnotfail]

Overnite, two men arrested while sleeping in their car at a reststop in MD. John Mohammed aka John Williams and his stepson Lee Malvo. Mohammad is thought to be the likely shooter.

[poppyseed]

I'm not a big Moose fan either, but I would not say he blew up at the press. He got a little short with the 'excuse me' comments a few times. However, he did not tell us much of anything either.

Oh, that makes me feel so much better. You could tell they weren't going to tell us much of anything - this was more a ceremony than anything else. And while I want details, they're simply not going to come this soon, and part of the reason for that is to assure the integrity of the cases against the shooters. Which is wracking to my curiosity, but worth it if it means an airtight case against these guys.

My concern wasn't what he DIDN'T say, but rather, what he DID say - between the lines. Just before he came on, Rita Cosby was talking about all the codes and messages in the press conferences, and she indicated that the time he blew up at reporters over the tarot card was greatly exaggerated, according to her LE sources, because of the message it would send to the shooters, who by all accounts had said that the tarot card info shouldn't be released to the public. So he was advised to act angrier than he really was to try to maintain a rapport with the killers. It was a message to them that they could still trust him, that he was on their side (well, you know...) and that it wasn't HIS mistake that had caused the leak.

So then I hear about his "blowup" tonight and got all worried that he might still be sending secret messages. I'm still a little twitchy about his "presser" last night, when he told us all that these guys weren't the ones and then talked to the snipers - when they knew darn well that these were the guys. I like to think that his statement last night was a CYA tactic to maintain the integrity of the case and minimize liability issues, or else a ploy designed to lull the snipers into thinking the police were still way behind in their investigation to make the end of the end game a little easier. But I have to admit I'm still a bit tweaked. Then again, even though it's likely the white van is a nonissue, I still find myself looking at them a bit nervously when I pass them on the road, and even though it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that these were the guys and they wouldn't be shooting at me, when I was coming out of the grocery store tonight I still kept an eye on the far side of the parking lot, and beyond. So I think, even if this IS the end, the freaked-outedness is going to take a while to subside, simply because being freaked out has become a habit in the last three weeks.

I hope it's that, at any rate, that's causing this niggling little fear. And I mean fear about the sniper cases, not the Threat of Terrorism in General.

So, fellow wearers-of-foil, put my mind at ease for the evening, at least: there was nothing Moose said or inflected tonight that indicated some super-secret coded message, right?

[aristeides]

Malvo wrote the letters? Could he have been the leader?

[cyncooper]

The first Cryptic Statement from "Word is our Bond" is the Title of a song by the band.

Last night in his message directly to the killers, Chief Moose used the phrase "our word is our bond".

We all knew every word was carefully scripted and designed to communicate with these monters and now me may find why they said certain words.

I don't suppose the band uses the word "clear" or "clearly" often?

[cebadams]

John Allen Williams/Mohammed update (corrections or additions appreciated):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=2354#2354
Mohammed was born in New Orleans. His parents dies when he was very young and he was raised by his aunt in Baton Rouge from age 3 til 18. He attened Scotlandville High School, an average student, ran track. He worked for a couple of years at a scrap metal facility and he had some training working with metal in the military.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1582#1582
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1925#1925
John Williams converted to Islam around 1984 after divorcing his first wife (Carol Williams, lives in Louisiana). She said she saw him for the first time in many years this past August, said he and Malvo were in town to visit his brother who is married to his ex-wife's sister. Muhammad’s second wife was Mildred Green (lives in Maryland), with whom he had three children. Mildred Muhammad filed a petition in March 2000, asking a Tacoma, Washington Superior Court judge to issue an order of protection barring John Muhammad from contacting his wife and the couple's three children (all with last name Muhammad on petition). They were divorced in 2000.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1734#1734
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1787#1787
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=2354#2354
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=2436#2436
Williams/Muhammed was a PFC mechanic and Gulf War veteran. He spent 10 years in the armed forces, stationed mainly at Fort Lewis, Wash., and Fort Ord., Calif. He also spent time with the military in Saudi Arabia and Germany, according to military records. Muhammad enlisted in the Army on Nov. 6, 1985, and was discharged at Fort Lewis on April 26, 1994. After leaving active duty he served in the Oregon National Guard until 1995. Before coming on active duty, he served in the Louisiana National Guard from 1978 to 1985. His highest ranking on active duty was sergeant.
Apparently, he was court marshalled. ABC news stated that Mohammed was dishonorably discharged for throwing a grenade into a tent with U.S. soldiers. They did not state where or when. FOX reporting that Muhammad WAS a trained expert marksman in the US Army. He rec'd the M16 marksmanship badge. Johnny Campbell of Atlanta said Muhammad was a perfectionist with a short temper, who harbored some resentment for his role in Desert Storm. "I did hear him say once or twice about the way the the government was sending us over there and using us as Guinea pigs and bring us back. He was kinda upset with the government for that."

Following his discharge in 1995, Muhammad stayed mostly in the Tacoma area, where he worked as a mechanic and got involved in a martial arts school, according to reports. The school closed in 1998.

Muhammed served as a bodyguard for The Reverend Louis Farakan during the Million Man March (Oct 1995).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1416#1416
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1467#1467
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1648#1648
John Malvo not really John Muhammed son. Mohammed and Malvo met when they both were living in homeless shelter last year in the Sea/Tac area.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/775264/posts
John Lee Malvo (17) is Jamaican and an illegal. According to INS records, Malvo was arrested by Border Patrol agents in Bellingham, Wash., on December 19, 2001. Local police called the Border Patrol during an incident involving "some sort of custody dispute" between Malvo's mother, Uma Sceon James, and John Mohammed. James admitted that six months earlier, "she and her son were passengers on a cargo ship that was filled with 'illegal asians (sic).' They were all off loaded in the Miami, FL area where she immediately located work at the Red Lobster in Ft. Myers, FL." From there, Malvo and James traveled to Tacoma, Wash., and ended up in Bellingham. At the time of their arrest, INS records indicate, neither Malvo nor his mother had any documents proving their identities or allowing them "to be or remain in the United States legally." The Border Patrol agents concluded that because she had "no roots or close family ties in the United States, James was likely to abscond." The arresting officer noted that the mother-and-son illegal aliens, Malvo and James, would be "detained at the Seattle Detention facility in Seattle, Washington pending deportation charges." Malvo was released on Jan. 24, 2002 without a bond. He was ordered to return for a deportation hearing on November 20th. Malvo had been in custody for one month for immigration violations. He was released in the custody of his mother.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/825361.asp?cp1=1
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=2168#2168
Authorities on Thursday were investigating whether a fatal shooting in Montgomery, Ala., on Sept. 21 is linked to the sniper shootings in the Washington area. John Wilson, the police chief of Montgomery, Ala., said that a different caliber gun was used in the liquor store shootings, and authorities had not concluded the shootings were related to the sniper killings. Malvo's fingerprint was found on a piece of paper at the scene. It was traced back to his INS hearing in Washington state.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1722#1722
MSNBC reporting Lookout for older Burgundy Chevy Caprice was put out Oct. 3rd after DC shooting of elderly black man. Oct. 8th....Baltimore Policeman finds John Muhammed sleeping in car and lets him go after taking car make and tags.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1124#1124
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1240#1240
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/775035/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=2186#2186
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=2341#2341
Two men arrested early Oct 24 in western Maryland (I-70 and mile marker 42) in a car with New Jersey license plates (nda-217) obtained in Camden on the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Edmond Bonnette, agent at the state Motor Vehicles office at 2600 Mount Ephraim Ave. in Camden, said the car was registered at 8:52 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2002. "At 9 a.m., we had a bomb scare," Bonnette said. "The police said it was called in from a phone booth on Kaighn Avenue. We had to evacuate everyone." The Philly FBI are looking for a Nathanel O. Osbourne who was co-registered on the Caprice with Mohammad. His whereabouts are unkown, but they think he may either be in Camden or Trenton, NJ.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=1438#1438
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/774875/posts?page=2397#2397
The car had a trap door in it, back seat folded down, guy shot through the car. Gun found in car forensically linked to the crimes.

Beltway Sniper Shooting FR Archives here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/768023/posts

[cake_crumb]

I wonder what co-Caprice-owner, 26 year-old Nathanel O. Osbourne's, CO-islamic name is?

[Katya]

I assumed that this is the one case they've linked them to, it doesn't mean it's the only time they hit a location while travelling.

[abner]

Brian Wilson just said that on Oct 8th when they stopped Mohammed, they didn't give him a second look because they were looking for a 'white guy'!

I thought they were suppposed to be keeping all of their options open!??

[Cboldt]

How did these guys go from a liquor store robbery to cutting a hole in the trunk of the car and shooting people . . .

The Alabama incident was --NOT-- a robbery. It is possible that the trick-trunk was used in the Alabama incident. So, they may have "started slow."

[Mo1]

OK .. well there is a report that the border control and the INS got involved because of a custody case between Mohammed and Malvo's mother

I had read that Mohammed was married a second time and thought that was to Malvo's mother

I guess that is wrong .. but it still doesn't answer the question WHY the custody case if there is NO relation??

And how in the heck did the kid get in Mohammed's hands??

[aristeides]

Probably not the first time they killed somebody either. Which means there may be a lot of jurisdictions out there that could bring capital cases against them.

Any unsolved murders in WA this year that have a similar MO?

[Darlin']

My goodness, you are thorough. Thank you.

[Mo1]

After reading your post I peeked at the tv and it does look very, very dark--LOL.

LOL .. yes it does

[aristeides]

And that would have been after the BOLO for the two Hispanic-looking men.

[Route66]

In my opinion, Moose said nothing tonight that even resembled code.
[unless you count a little 'Moose Speak'....;^) ]

Rest easy, for a while at least.

[aristeides]

Custody case was over the children from the second marriage, not over Malvo.

[abner]

And that would have been after the BOLO for the two Hispanic-looking men.

Me thinks that the police were listening to the profiling pundits a bit too much. Grrr...

[abner]

I don't think his hair is darker, I think he is sick or something. He looks completely pale. My husband mentioned that he looked different tonight, not so baby faced. I wonder if he is feeling ok.

[cake_crumb]

"How did these guys go from a liquor store robbery to cutting a hole in the trunk of the car and shooting people."

Exactly. Doesn't quite fit, does it?

[all4one]

FBI is just stating that Osbourne is a "person of interest", not a suspect. They want to ask him some questions about his friend Mohammad. I saw an interview with the car lot owner who sold Mohammad the Caprice. He paid $200.00 for the car, it was sitting on the lot for over a year! The Caprice was originally part of a New Jersey area municipal fleet.

[poppyseed]

In the course of a search for that Jamaican band, ran across this:

When a Muslim's Word was his Bond