Police Now Link September 14 D.C. Shooting To Sniper Suspects

CNN ^ | November 1, 2002

[Shermy]

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- Task force investigators late Friday linked yet another shooting to the D.C.-area sniper suspects -- this one 2 1/2 weeks before the fast-paced string of attacks began around the nation's capital.

Benny Oberoi, 22, an employee of a liquor store in Silver Spring, Maryland, was shot and wounded by a single bullet soon after he and his boss closed up the store Saturday, September 14. He is expected to make a full recovery.

[BiffSchneider]

"a member of the Nation of Islam:
confirmed
"the 5 Percenters"
not confirmed
"al Fuqra"
not confirmed

"Who know we could be looking at the all time top Islamakazi hit man!"

Hit man is a pretty strong word. You mean he was hired to shoot a beautician and a couple liquor store clerks that no one had any idea was "terrorism" but thought instead that it was just street crime?

What other street crimes should we credit to Osama bin Laden? Perhaps we should blame Osama for the Crips, the Bloods, and all the other gangs. Hey, that's not enough. There have been several disastrous earthquakes over the past few decades. How do we know that Osama doesn't have an earthquake machine?

I'm sure Osama is quaking in his boots at the thought of being blamed for all those crimes. Of course, "blame" doesn't work with terrorists; all they know is "credit."

Anyone who continually attempts to blame everything on Osama and/or organized terrorism is simply playing into the terrorist's hands. They'd love to be "blamed" for everything that goes wrong.

Who knows, maybe a couple hundred years from now "Osama" will be a deeply entrenched bogeyman, like Rumplestilskin.

[billclintonwillrotinhell]

And here we had all the morons in the media telling us time after time that the sniper hadn't struck yet on weekends. Yet, the Saturday, Sept. 14th shooting was suspected very early on as being linked, but the ballistic tests couldn't be conclusive one way or another. It's just another example of the media's pack mentality. "He hasn't shot on weekends. He hasn't shot on weekends. He hasn't shot on weekends. If we say it enough times, maybe it'll be true."

[browardchad]

I heard one possibility for the shootings in DC area was a set up to killing his Exwife no doubt to gain custody of his kids.

That theory has considerable holes in it. According to a CNN story:

Public records show Muhammad's last address as a Clinton, Maryland, house where his second ex-wife lives with their three children and other relatives. It is unknown if Muhammad ever lived in the house, but at least one neighbor saw him in the area recently.

FNC also reported, on the morning of the arrest, that neighbors remembered him as living there recently -- and one in particular had gone jogging with him. If Muhammad planned to kill his second wife, he had plenty of opportunity; instead, it appears as if she was putting him up, in spite of earlier (divorce) stories that she was afraid of him. She also didn't live in that house alone, but with other members of her family, so I doubt that she was being held hostage.

An involved plot to go on a multi-state killing/robbery/extortion spree to hide the intended murder of his wife is nonsense -- and at best, an attempt by the "anything but Islam" crowd to muddy the waters.

[CodeWeasel]

I've got a feeling the September 14 shooting is unrelated. It's the timeline that bothers me.

The shootings in AL and LA occurred after September 14 but before the killing spree started in MD and VA. If the September 14 shooting is related, that means the shooters were in the DC area, shot a man there, then went to AL and LA, and then drove back to DC.

How likely is that?

[SCR1]

I would agree that Malvo was the main shooter in the Caprice just be cuase of his size. He wasshort and would fit easily in the trunk! Mohummed is too big to fit in the trunk comfortably.

SCR1

[Future Useless Eater]

I've got a feeling the September 14 shooting is unrelated. It's the timeline that bothers me.

As many of you here know, I called this one five days ago on September 28th.
I have other Muhammad timelines at this link as well. Mainly
• early1990s -Islam connection, and Desert Storm
• April 1995- Sniper compared to OKC bomber John Doe #2
• Sniper motivated by Nation of Islam - Louis Farrakahn

  Here is my 2002 timeline again, with modifications and updates...

  In June 2002, Muhammad was heard to say he hated police and planned to shoot a police officer, then bomb the funeral of the dead officer to kill more police.
  Muhammad also wanted to shoot and blow up a gas tanker. (is this gas tanker explosion related?)

  FORT WORTH, Texas, 12:41 p.m. CDT June 26, 2002 - A tanker truck reportedly carrying 9,000 gallons of gasoline exploded and burned just south of DFW Airport this morning right near a daycare.....
  I'm not SAYING Muhamma-dunnit, but where was Muhammad on June 26 2002.

By September his plans changed to (mostly random?) sniper killings.

• THREE or more terrorists cooked up the plan to buy a used POLICE CAR and turn it into a killing machine.
• September 11 - Three of them buy the car and register it in New Jersey. The date, and the fact that it was a police car are both important to them.
  Muhammad and Osbourne co-registered the car while another calls in a bomb threat at the DMV.
• September 14 - The shooters try out their sniper car for the first time outside a Silver Spring, Maryland liquor store on a SATURDAY night. The victim survives, and the bullet is too fragmented to match with later shootings. No more sniper shootings occur there for two and a half weeks because the terrorists are out of town.
• September 14- Thinking they've killed someone at the liquor store, terrorists leave immediately for planned training at "Ground Zero" camp in Marion, Alabama (one hour from Montgomery). The terrorist training manuals teach shooters to lay down and fire backwards out of a vehicle (like a flatbed truck). with another person driving away slowly. This later turns out to be exactly the technique used around D.C.
• September 21, about 7:30pm(closing time) - While in Alabama, Muhammad and Malvo rob and kill at a Montgomery liquor store. Again, this is a Saturday night. One woman is shot in the back of the head but it glanced off and exited her chin and she is alive. She can ID Malvo. The manager was shot in the back and killed. A third terrorist assists their escape using the blue Chevrolet Caprice. The .223 Bushmaster rifle is positively ID'ed here.
• September 23 at 6:35 p.m., Baton Rouge LA: Hong Im Ballenger, 45, was shot once in the head after she closed her beauty shop and was getting into her car; She died instantly.
  The bullet has been positively ID'ed to the .223 Bushmaster rifle. Seen running from her car was a black man 130- to 140-pounds who stands about 5 feet 2 inches tall. (Malvo is 5'6") The man was picked up by a dark blue Chevrolet that had earlier been parked across the street from the shooting. Killers got $1000 from her purse that she was going to deposit in the bank.
• September 26 - Another shooting murder occurred in Baton Rouge. Freepers here said it was ID's as Muhammad/Malvo's rifle, but the details of that murder disappeared from the MSNBC report. Maybe it was premature or a mistaken report.
• September 28, 2:58pm - Gulfport Mississippi Police report seeing their parked, empty, blue Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey plates NDA-21Z as they investigate an unrelated crime. The police find the vehicle is not wanted.
• September 29 - [probably unrelated?] 25-year-old Baton Rouge man Christopher Hamlin, was gunned down in an early morning shooting (4:30am) at a gas station. Detectives say Hamlin was putting oil in his car when another car with four men inside pulled up next to him. Officers say that's when one man got out of the car and shot Hamlin several times with a rifle. Apparently, there were approximately 19 bullet casings found on the ground. [No word yet on ballistics - this should be easy to link to M & M if it is true]
• October 1, 1:30am - Fairfax County (VA?) police see the blue Caprice and run their plates. No action taken.
• October 1 - Terrorists return to Silver Spring, Maryland, pumped up to kill more. They get rested at a safe-house, possibly at the Mohammed residence (apartment #5) at 3974 Bel Pre Road, [this is the same address as the last shooting]. Nation of Islam converts often change their last names to Mohammad, and the shooters know them to be sympathetic or co-conspirators themselves.
• October 2 - Terrorists spend the day planning their hits, and by 5pm start their shooting spree one block from the apartment, at the Michaels store. [Police should check if the store clerk almost killed had ever met John Mohammad, Lee Malvo, or anyone living at the Bel Pre apartments]
• Another shooting will later occur TWO blocks from the apartment, at a gas station.
• ...many more shootings occur, which I can't do justice to them here...
• Police are convinced the shooters must live nearby, since so many shooting occur in close proximity and shooters know the area very well.
• October 23 - The last fatal shooting will occur directly outside the apartment on Bel Pre road. Mohammad, who frequently rides busses in that area, probably knew, and has been angered in the past by the driver or one of his co-workers.
  The 35-year-old Jamaican-born bus driver was Conrad Johnson.

  ---

• October 21 - Nathaniel O. Osbourne, a 26-year-old Jamaican illegal alien, and the killing car's co-owner, is said to have arrived today in Flint Michigan from Camden NJ.
  One woman who interviewed Osbourne for a sales position on Oct 23 said he appeared wierd: He slouched in his chair, was barely audible when he spoke, and left during the interview to use the bathroom.
  According to his application, he did not graduate from high school or attend college. He listed his hobbies as "musician and soccer player." He said he has sales experience, and experience directing groups of people "during musical sessions."
  He was arrested as a material witness on Oct 26th. Freepers here all shout CHECK OUT DETROIT! which has a huge muslim population.
  It turns out there IS a Johnnie Muhammad who lives or lived in Detroit. A database firm says that person is:
  John A Muhammad,
  Age 41,
  Detroit Michigan.

  ---

  Now I know many of you will speculate on a Lansing murder, so here is my research on that one...

  

• June 23 2001 - A suspicious sniper shooting occurred in Lansing Michigan last year. A black woman, Bernita White, age 41, is shot thru the heart by a high-powered rifle from a wooded area 100 yards away. The bullet is never found.
  Bernita, who is a member of a baptist church, filed for divorce a month earlier, and then probably spent a great deal of time with her mother who lived in Detroit. You can draw your own conclusions, but we don't know yet that Muhammad was in Detroit or Michigan in June 2001.

  
  

  I am still working on another Muhammad timeline:
  Dec 1999 to June 2002, but so far June 2001 is a mystery.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

The grassy knoll!

sorry, couldn't resist

[Rocksalt]

"The Montgomery County police blew off Oberoi and his boss and never connected the Chevy and Caprice witness reports while Bullwinkle continued his preoccupation with the mythical white box truck."

Maybe they knew about the Caprice the whole time,and didn't want to release the information as they might have feared that the shooters would abandon the vehicle and start using another one,making it harder to find them.

[Rocksalt]

Great timeline,but I don't see any mention of the shooting in Washington state that appears to have been commited by J.M. The fact that they were driving all over the country on a crime spree is very disconcerting.

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Whether or not this or any future cases are related isn't important in a political respect. All of those Leftists who "crossed party lines" and backed the death penalty are going to find it more difficult walk away.

[Grampa Dave]

Great work on your timeline.

Before this is over, John Muhammed will be viewed as the killing machine of the Nation of Islam.

[tubebender]

Maybe they knew about the Caprice the whole time,and didn't want to release the information as they might have feared that the shooters would abandon the vehicle and start using another one,making it harder to find them.

I tend to agree with you as the unreal parody of the "composite of box van". I sat stunned at the Hoopla over that "Prees Release...

[GoreLoser]

"Maybe they knew about the Caprice the whole time, and didn't want to release the information as they might have feared that the shooters would abandon the vehicle..."

No chance -- the information about the Caprice was never conveyed to the cops on the street, that's why the perps were stopped twice by cops, as early as Oct. 3, and sighted at least 12 times without being brought in. It's even been reported that the snipers may have gotten through road blocks in their Caprice.

The answer is incompetence by the PC idiots running the investigation. Hence, the "unreal parody of the 'composite of box van'." Moose stated that police didn't want to tar any group so they put out that absurd picture of the van, instead of any description of the perps, who they knew were non-white after talking with them on Sunday Oct. 20, the day before taking in the 2 unfortunate guys at the phone booth in Richmond.

To sum it up, before capture the lamestream media called the sniper a "genius"; after capture the lamers raved about "brilliant police work." As usual, they were wrong on both counts: this was a simple case of "Dumb and Dumber."

[browardchad]

so far June 2001 is a mystery

According to this Miami Herald story, Muhammad left Antigua with his three kids, and Malvo, "in May or June 2001," most likely because he was stopped by both Antigua officials in March, and Miami officials, in April, due to counterfeit docs.

Sniper suspect's secret trail led to Antigua

Nothing I've read yet picks up either his or Malvo's trail again until Malvo enrolled in a Ft. Myers, FL, school on 8/13. The question of whether Muhammad was in Florida with Malvo at the time is debatable:

From Man Arrested in Sniper Case Attended School in Fort Myers

It looks like Muhammad dropped Malvo in Florida with persons unknown (possibly Una James, who supposedly left Antigua ahead of him, in May) on the way back from Antigua, then took his kids back to Tacoma.

[MyDogAteMyBallot]

To sum it up, before capture the lamestream media called the sniper a "genius"; after capture the lamers raved about "brilliant police work." As usual, they were wrong on both counts: this was a simple case of "Dumb and Dumber."
The fact that these guys were so dumb and it took so long for the dumber investigators to find them is the scariest aspect of the entire situation. Anybody with similar ideas about efficient, inexpensive, low-risk methods to generate widespread terror had to be reassured by the response of the "task force" that random sniping is indeed a viable terror tactic.

[TexKat]

This is subject to change (subject to, inevitably will). But I'm going to make a go at it.

8/21/1978 - 1985 Louisiana National Guard, John Williams joined

9/1978 - Called to active duty.

2/1979 - Louisianna National Guard, John Williams returned

8/1982 - Summary court martial

11/6/1985 - Fort Lewis 15th Engineer Battalion, Enlisted in the army after separating from 1st wife Carol Williams. Wife reported Muhammad was having an affair.

1988 - Divorced from 1st wife.

1988 - Tacoma, Wa.,married 2nd wife, Mildred Green, who had been having affair with while he was married to first wife.

90s - Active in Nation of Islam

1990 - Germany,Transfered to the 84th Engineer Company.

1991 - In the Gulf War

1992-1993 Fort Ord, Ca 13th Engineer Battalion

1994-2000 Tacoma Washington Discharged from army. Lived with 2nd wife their 3 children. Various addresses.

1994 - Oregon National Guard, John Mohammad joined.

1995 - Oregon National Guard, John Mohammad discharged.

1995 - Washington D.C.,John Mohammad claimed to have been bodyguard at the million man's march.

1995 Tacoma Washington, John Mohammad partnershiped in 1998 Karate School.

1998 - Tacoma Washingington, Second wife filed for divorce.

10/98 - Lynnwood Washington, John Mohammad contracted on- site vehicle oil changes and repair on city vehicles.

12/99 - Lynnwood police sargeant goes to Mohammad's home to collect keys of the building locks,which Mohammad had not returned after being fired, this upset Mohammad.

3/2000 - St Johns,Antigua, Randolph Simon (a Tacoma man) arraigned for John Mohammad to go. Mohammad takes his 3 children from school without their mother's knowledge and/or consent.

Sometime in here is where Mohammad and Una James met in Jamaica, Ms. James had left Malvo home alone in St. John, Antiqua. When someone came to pickup 15 year old Malvo, that someone was John Mohammad according to the Antigua landlord.

4/2000 - Washington area, Mohammad returned and left his children in Antigua according to Janet Greer (Randolph Simon's cousin, who took care of Mohammad's 3 children and who contacted Mohammad via telephone when she found out through the children that Mohammad did not have legitimate custody of the children.

4/16/00- Lynnwood, Wa. shoots fired at police building.

Antigua - Witnesses said Mohammad sold CDs, batteries, fraudalent documents. Mohammed applied for a coaching job and also a position at a security company, but could not provide proper documentation.

4/14/01- Miami Florida, Mohammad was detained.

5/2001 - Mohammad and Malvo no longer sited in Antigua.

6/2001 - United States, Mohammad, Malvo and the 3 children return to the states.

6/2001 - Mohammad phones Isa Nichols in order to find out the whereabouts of his 2nd wife Mildred. 6/21/02- Lansing, Michigan - murder- Bernita White at a picnic area at Potter Park Zoo.

8/2001- Ft. Meyers, Fl, Malvo enrolled in Cypress Lake High school.

Malvo's mother Una James was employed at the Red Lobster in Ft. Meyers, Fl. 8/2001- Belllingham, Wa., Mohammad enrolls his 3 children in school.

8/2001 - Mohammad applied for government assistance, which brought LE down on him.

8/31/2001 - Police seized the 3 children and return them to their mother on 9/4/2001

9/2001 - Bellingham Washington, Mohammad employed by Country Garden Apartments and was reported by a co-worker to LE because he was asking questions of a Whatcom county gunsmith of a silencer.

10/01-1/02 Bellingham, Washington, Mo and Mal live at Lighthouse Mission.

10/01-12/01 Malvo attended school in Billingham, Washington, could not continue due to failure to provide transcripts.

2/12/02 - Tacoma, Mohammad charged for shoplifting $27 worth of groceries.

2/16/02 - Keenya Cook (21 yrs old), neice of Isa Nichols who had did some accounting work for Mohammad's car repair shop.

6/2002 - Baton Rouge, Louisianna Mohammad pretends to be a Special Forces commando to his cousin and shows her what he has inside his duffle bag.

7/2002 - Baton Rouge, Mo and Mal spotted back in Our Daily Bread Health Food store by owner.

8/2002 - Baton Rouge, Mo and Mal back in Our Daily Bread Health Food store by owner again.

8/2002 - Mohammad sited in Camden, New Jersey.

8/2002 - Antigua, John Mohammad was sited at Home Depot and at a bank.

8/2002 - Greyhound bus driver's credit card comes up stolen. Bus trip was from Nogales, Az to Flagstaff, Az.

9/2002 - Baton Rouge, Mohammad and Malvo seen at the Our Daily Bread Health Store for the last time. 9/10/02- Camden NJ, Mohammad, Nathaniel Osbourne purchase 1990 Chevy Caprice from Sure Shot Sales.

9/11/02- Registered the car and got the title from DMV.

9/14/02- Silver Springs, Md - shooting -Rupinder Oberoi clerk at Hillandale Beer and Wine store. Witness at the neighboring Safeway reported seeing a dark older model chevy caprice.

9/21/02- Montgomery, Alabama, ballistics tie Mohammad to shooting, killing and robbery of Claudine Parker and seriously wounding Kellie Adams.

9/23/02- Baton Rouge, Louisianna, ballistics tie Mohammad and Malvo to the murder and robbery of Hong Im Ballenger.

9/28/02-Gulfport,Mississippi, police run tags on Mohammad's chevy caprice that was parked but empty at a strip mall.

10/1/02-Fairfax County police ran check on Mohammads caprice.

10/2/02-Wheaton, Maryland, bullet shot through store window at Michaels.

Muhammad and Malvo dined at Aspen Hill Boston Market

James D Martin fatally shot in front of Whartons Shopper Food Warehouse.

Police ran Mohammad's caprice tags twice.

10/3/02-White Flint, Md. murder - James L. Sonny Buchanan Jr.

Aspen Hill, Md. murder - Premkumar Walekar

Mohammad and Malvo shopped at K-Marts nearby. Silver Springs, Md. murder - Sarah Ramos

Mohammad asked for handouts for gas money, so he could visit his hospital-ridden wife and mother.

Kensington, Md. - Lori Lewis Rivera

Muhammad dined at Aspen Hill Boston Market

Northwest,Washinton murder - Paschal Charlot

Witness reported seeing a dark chevy caprice creeping away with its lights off.

Caprice spotted by police twice by authorities. Later that night caprise spotted again by off- duty Prince George's officer. Caprice was headed south toward Virginia.

10/4/02-Spotsylvania County, Va - shooting - woman shot in back while loading packages in her car at a parking lot of a Michaels Craft store.

Washington D.C., police pull Mohammad over for a minor traffic violation, they were let go.

Witness reported a dark colored vehicle with New Jersey license tags.

10/7/02-Bowie, Md - shooting of 13 year old boy at Tasker Middle School. Tarot card with message left at crime scene.

Women reported a black man crouching beneath the dashboard in a dark chevy caprice.

10/8/02-Baltimore, Md.police found Mohammad sleeping in the caprice, ran tags. Mohammad had visited the Subway there and the Mobil station where he purchased snacks

10/9/02-Prince William County, Va. - murder - Dean Harold Meyers

10/11/02-Spotsylvania, Va. - murder - Kenneth Bridges while filling his car at the Four Mile Fork Exxon.

Mohammad and Malvo stayed at the Ramada Inn under false names that morning before the murder. While the LE was at the crime scene. Mohammad and Malvo make a move over to the Econolodge, 200 yards away from the Exxon,ordered pizza and watched CNN

10/14/02-Fairfax County, Va - murder - Linda Franklin loading packages in her car at Home Depot.

Mohammad and Malvo had visited the G Street Fabric Store in the same area a couple of times

10/15/02-Richmond Va.,Malvo makes phone call to police department.

10/16/02-Ashland, Va., Mohammad and Malvo seen and smelled at YMCA

10/18/02-Ashland, Va., Mohammad and Malvo visits Break Time Sports Bar and Grill.

10/19/02-Ashland, Va. - shooting - 37 year old male at Ponderosa Steak House. Mohammad and Malvo left a letter for LE.

Mohammad and Malvo had dined at the Ponderosa around Labor Day, which had been recommended by the asst, manager of the Family Dollar store across the street.

10/20/02-Fairfax County, Va. police ran tag on Mohammad's caprice in Bailey's Crossroads. Mohammad goes back to the scene of the crime of James L Sonny Buchanan Jr.

10/21/02-Mohammad was seen at the Outback Steak House having dinner.Police caught Mohammad running a red light

10/22/02-Aspen Hills,Md. - murder - Conrad Johnson, bus driver

Later that evening Mohammad and Malvo visted the Silver Springs YMCA where Mohammad claimed they did not have the $3 fee required. 10/23/01-One of the two purchased a duffle bag from the KMart, a block away from the Mobile station shooting.

Meyersville, Md., Malvo purchases a Clark candy bar at a Exxon mini mart.

Hagerstown, Md., Mohammad orders the all you can eat breakfast at Shoney's.

10/24/02-Frederick, Md., The capture of Mo and Mal. To Be Continued

[Future Useless Eater]

I know of Muhammad's Washington State shootings...

• Feb 16 2002 - 21-year-old Keenya Cook is shot and killed. Muhammad has now been positively linked, using a borrowed gun. Cook lived with her aunt Isa Nichols, whom Muhammad was furious with the summer before.
• Between May 1 - May 4, 2002 - Muhammad or Malvo fire at least two shots into the holy shrine of the Tacoma Jewish Synagogue with another borrowed gun. No one is injured

  ---

  We now now Maryland police were told clearly of the dark Chevrolet Caprice MUCH EARLIER!!! Here is the EARLIEST one, from September 14, the 1st known east-coast Muhammad/Malvo shooting...

  Robert Wilkerson, a 19-year-old clerk at the Safeway grocery store near the Hillandale Beer & Wine store, told police he saw a dark-colored Chevrolet Caprice leave the parking lot immediately after the shooting.
  Wilkerson told CNN he heard the gunshot, saw the victim fall to the ground, and as he was running into the grocery store to call for help, he saw the Caprice pull out of a parking space.
  "It was like an old police car" Wilkerson said.

  Maryland cops were ordered to ONLY pin this on an AWG (at least until after the election)!

[Rocksalt]

The cops on the street obviously didn't know about the vehicles involvement,and it's amazing that if the vehicle was spotted leaving the scene of another crime before the sniping spree even began,this information never got tied in.I'm sure law enforcement was under an extraordinary amount of pressure to solve this killing spree,and they ended up making some bad decisions as a result,I can tell you and many others feel this way.

[Rocksalt]

"Robert Wilkerson, a 19-year-old clerk at the Safeway grocery store near the Hillandale Beer & Wine store, told police he saw a dark-colored Chevrolet Caprice leave the parking lot immediately after the shooting."

Sounds like communication between law enforcement agencys could have been alot better,it also sounds like they could use an actual functioning database.Hindsight is 20-20,and I'll admit I would not have wanted the job law enforcement was doing on this case.

[GoreLoser]

There's no hindsight involved.

The owner and victim of the Sept. 14 liquor store shooting witnessed by Wilkerson told Montgomery County cops ON OCT. 4 to investigate the linkage, including the report of a Caprice, to the sniper shootings and were ignored. The D.C. police actually did a better job of investigating because they took a witness report of a Caprice at the last of the 5 killings on Oct. 3 seriously but were big-footed by the sniper task force, where the FBI and Moose refused to release the information on the Caprice to the public -- or to cops on the street -- as they continued to pursue only their PC white man/white van theory.