Suspect left danger signs in Bellingham (FBI had Terror Tip on Sniper Muhammad, October, 2001!)

Bellingham Herald ^ | October 25th, 2002 | John Stark, Aubrey Cohen, & Mary Lane Gallagher

[Sabertooth]

The people at Stuart's Coffee House remember John Allen Muhammad as a quiet chess player who never wanted to be apart from his big, stuffed, heavy U.S. Army duffel bag.

At this point, nobody can prove that the bag Muhammad was lugging around contained the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle that police found in his car when he and 17-year-old John Lee Malvo were arrested at a Maryland rest stop early Thursday. By the end of the day, ballistics tests had tied that weapon to the bloody East Coast sniping spree that left 10 people dead.

[blam]

I'm worried that we'll never be allowed to know the 'whole' story on these guys. It sounds like Mohammad was a queer terrorist.

[Miss Marple]

I am so grateful you found this article. Between the connections browardchad found, and the connections to Farakhan and the Caribbean that Sabertooth found, I think there is a good reason for suspicion.

We need a chart showing all the connections, but I am not capable of doing that on the computer. Darn!

[Sabertooth]

ping

[gubamyster]

Archer grew so suspicious of his odd behavior that he suspected him of being part of a terrorist organization, and he called the FBI. But that was in October 2001,

He also contacted Bellingham police with his concerns.

immigration agents were waiting to take her into custody. She eventually got back to Bellingham and was reunited with Malvo,

He was sketchy on details, but at some point James and Malvo were arrested again in Seattle, and Malvo eventually was released and wound up with Muhammad again. James eventually made it back to Bellingham

In June, when Singh was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge, he told police about the conversations with Muhammad and Malvo, Lackie said. The police told the FBI, he said.

According to federal court records, Muhammad told a former Army buddy four months ago that he tried to equip an assault rifle with a silencer.

In summary:

Bellingham Police Chief Randy Carroll …."It was pretty much just general information and certainly did not give us any indication that Mr. Malvo or Mr. Muhammad's future would lead them to where they are today," Carroll said. "The information he gave us did not lead us to a criminal investigation and in fact did not lead us anywhere."

Barney Fife could have connected these dots.

[FreedomPoster]

I'd suggest you should get your friend to provide details to the local FBI/INS. I'd like to hope they'd be interesting in knowing about that.

[Eva]

What is that girl's name that was on Hannity, the one who uncovered the INS involvement with Malvo? I am going to e-mail her with some of this information. I think that this is a definite terrorist connection. It looks like Mohammed could have been working as a runner for these guys.

[Valin]

Ain't hindsight wonderful.
Something needs to be understood here about streetpeople (which is what he is). They are for the most part schemers and scammers and big talkers. They have all these great connections and they're going to do this or that blah blah blah. And for the most part all it is, is talk by lifes losers. So what most likely happened was the cops took a look at these two and saw what they expected to see a couple of steertpeople a little weird but then so are 90% of streetpeople, so they blew it off.
Oct. 2001 the FBI ATF...etc were still operating in a pre 9-11 mode for the most part. Sad to say we can still find this going on.

[Eva]

My friend would never report it. She thinks I am the most conservative person that she ever met and I don't think she meant that as a complement.

[Miss Marple]

One thing they really, really need to do is find out where this guy got that money. If he has a legitimate source of income, it should be easy to prove from W-2 forms, check stubs, etc.

Bet you $100 that it is not legitimate.

I would also check around at jewelers and pawn shops to see if he bought any jewelry thee and how he paid for it.

[aristeides]

The people at Stuart's Coffee House remember John Allen Muhammad as a quiet chess player who never wanted to be apart from his big, stuffed, heavy U.S. Army duffel bag.

A witness at Bowie the morning of Oct. 7 (the day of the shooting there) reported seeing a suspicious man carrying a duffel bag through the woods outside the school to a vehicle.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Valin]

He could have been locked up for having the gun.

Did they know he had a gun?

[Miss Marple]

And wasn't a woman involved in that? Said she had dropped him off for surveying or something?

[SarahW]

He had it in his duffle...
And if making violent threats and asking for help making silencers isn't enough to get you searched, nothing is.

[Sabertooth]

What is that girl's name that was on Hannity, the one who uncovered the INS involvement with Malvo? I am going to e-mail her with some of this information. I think that this is a definite terrorist connection. It looks like Mohammed could have been working as a runner for these guys.

Michelle Malkin. She and her husband have already been flagged and e-mailed to this thread.

Here's the Hannity thread from yesterday.

MICHELLE MALKIN on Hannity now!
(DC Sniper Immigration Status: BREAKING)

[Valin]

Barzinji serves as a trustee and officer of the Amana Mutual Funds Trust, a growth and income mutual fund headquartered in Bellingham, Wash., conveniently near the Canadian border

Didn't the border patrol stop some guy coming from Canada to bomb LA inter. airport just before Y2K?

[aristeides]

"Anybody with that much money who's roughing around on the street, you gotta wonder about," she said.

It does sound like he had access to money somehow. Anybody got any ideas on why he would have been living in a homeless shelter, and at that a homeless shelter managed by a man who was apparently suspicious of him?

[aristeides]

He was apparently only in the Army 10 years, and he left with a less than honorable discharge. I don't think he'd be entitled to a military pension.

[Mitchell]

There are a number of interesting tidbits here about Muhammad's time in Bellingham.

After he got to know Muhammad better, Archer grew so suspicious of his odd behavior that he suspected him of being part of a terrorist organization, and he called the FBI. But that was in October 2001, in the aftershock of the World Trade Center massacre, and Archer doesn't think he got the feds' attention.

This isn't just an after-the-fact statement; he actually called the FBI at the time with his suspicions.

Although Muhammad spent time at the homeless shelter, he sometimes flashed a wallet thick with currency, and showed off expensive-looking watches and gold bracelets, Parks said.

At the mission, Archer said, Muhammad would stay for a few days and then leave, saying he was traveling to Denver and New Orleans, among other places. The odd part was that Muhammad was traveling by airplane. Archer learned that when an airline ticket agent called the mission asking for Muhammad.

"At the mission, not many airline agents call and ask for residents," Archer said.

Muhammad's frequent flier status seemed odd to other people.
...
In the post 9-11 climate, Archer felt it was worth a call to the FBI.

"I felt like he was part of an organization. I felt like he had some connection with terrorists. ... I said he's got connections somewhere with somebody who's got money," Archer remembered telling the FBI.

There is definitely a question of where his money came from. Has he held any jobs since being discharged from the Army?

[HairOfTheDog]

Placemarker....