Atlanta connection to sniper; shooting in ATL? (my title)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AJC.com ^ | 11.7.02 | ERNIE SUGGS

[mhking]

[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 11/7/02 ]

BREAKING NEWS: UPDATED 12:53 P.M.
Pennington to discuss reports of possible Atlanta connection to D.C. sniper case

By ERNIE SUGGS
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Atlanta police have scheduled a 2:30 p.m. press conference to discuss a possible connection between an Atlanta murder and the D.C.-area sniper attacks.

WAGA today quoted unnamed police sources as saying the gun used in the Sept. 21 in Atlanta is the same gun used in the shootings around Washington.

A police spokesman says Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington at 2:30 p.m. will discuss what he called "a possible connection" to the Washington sniper case. Officials at a federal courthouse in Maryland, meanwhile, say federal charges against sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad have been dismissed.

An official says that means a preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday in federal court has been canceled.

The dismissal could mean that the case will be transferred to a local jurisdiction for prosecution.

[mhking]

I'm headed out to take the baby to a 2:00 doctor's appointment - let me know what's up, folks!

[OldFriend]

Sniper case transferred out of Federal courts, making way for VA.......

Saying now that the bullet that killed the man on the golf course is the same as the gun used in the killings. Evidently the snipers were in the area on the date of the murder.

[Future Useless Eater]

Developing: Murder Linked to Snipers

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.asp?storyid=23860

In a breaking news story on 11Alive News at Noon, reporter Kevin Rowson revealed that ballistics tests link the Washington-area sniper attacks to a murder in Atlanta.

Federal and local law enforcement sources confirmed to Rowson that detectives have linked a homicide that occurred here in September to the Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle used by the sniper suspects.

The rifle, pulled from John Muhammad's Chevy Caprice after his arrest, was used to kill several Washington sniper victims, as well as a woman in Montgomery, Ala., and a beauty supply worker in Baton Rouge, La.

The Baton Rouge killing happened Sept. 23. The killing of the liquor store manager in Montgomery happened Sept. 21, less than 24 hours after the Atlanta murder.

The murder in Southwest Atlanta took place close to midnight Sept. 20 when someone shot 41-year-old liquor store employee Million Waldemarian once in the back of the head and once in the torso.

Another person in the package store on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive said he heard the shots but did not see a gunman.

The murder remained unsolved until Atlanta authorities sent ballistics tests to the D.C. Sniper Task Force, where a match was made.

Officials with the police department have made no confirmation of the report but planned an afternoon news conference.

---

I will update the Muhammad timeline/body count listing
tonight to include Atlanta Sept 21,
Arizona in March 2002,
Clinton MD (twice) in September
(and maybe? Jennifer Short - in Virginia - in August 2002)

[jgrubbs]

I don't see how Jennifer Short could be linked.

[Shermy]

Interesting name. Web search of the name shows that the guy might be an immigrant of Ethiopian origin.

[Grut]

I don't see how Jennifer Short could be linked.

Jennifer Short, heck! What about Judge Crater, the Lindbergh baby and Ambrose Bierce?

[aeronca]

bump

[jpthomas]

Ballistic forensics evidence collected at 20 Sept shooting in Atlanta tied to .22 caliber handgun recently discovered near 21 Sept shooting in Montgomery. Suspect dropped this handgun while fleeing from policeman after the ABC liquor store shooting.

[TexKat]

Press Conference with John Ashcroft and Chief Charles Moose together coming up next on Fox.

[TexKat]

1st Prosecutors: Virginia

John Mohammad gets Paul Ebert in Prince Williams County.

Lee Malvo gets Robert Horan in Fairfax County.

No terrorism statue charges for these guys. Ashcroft wants aggressive, expedient trials and executions.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

You forgot to mention James Garfield, John F Kennedy, and Archduke Franz Ferdinand.