This Is A Bit Scary... (DC Sniper merged thread) (1 Viewer)

[Joseph DeMartino]

Recent report says that an eyewitness stated that the driver is of Middle Eastern ethnicity

This report has already been pretty much dismissed by the police. Eyewitness testimony actually sucks, especially for events like this - seen when the observer is scared to death, pumping adreniline and trying to get out of the line of fire. It gets even worse when the observation takes place a night, and the accuracy drops further when the observer is looking at things under the color-distorting glow of sodium-vapor lights. Besides, what exactly does "looking" Middle Eastern mean, absent any unusal item of clothing? I seriously doubt that most people could tell folks from a dozen Mediterranian countries apart simply by looking at them. Put a mustache or beard on a man from Lybia and he's going to be pretty much indistinguishable from a Greek, or a Turk, or an Israeli - or either of my grandfathers, both of whom came from southern Italy.

The truth is that the eyewitness descriptions vary so wildly from one another that the police can't even put out a composite sketch. Some witnesses describe the man they saw as light skinned, others olive-skinned, and still others light-skinned. (The observers own ethnicity may play a part in how they perceive others. A black American and a blonde Swede might describe the same pepertrator as "light-skinned" and "dark-skinned" respectively.)

Hell, when the Titanic sank there were over 1400 people in the water and they couldn't agree on whether the ship went down in one piece or two - this was the most dramatic event that any of them ever saw, an image that was burned into their minds for the rest of their lives, but at the inquest only a few weeks later they split almost straight down the middle on this question. I think this case is going to be broken by a tip from someone who knows this guy (or guys) and has noticed some suspicious behavior lately. The prosecution will probably be clinched by forensic evidence. I don't think the unreliable eyewitness testimony is going to play much of a part at all.

Regards,

Joe

 

[MikeAlletto]

The major reason the supposed "eye witness" report was dismissed is that the moron that said he saw a guy shoulder a weapon and fire wasn't even in the parking lot, he was in the store and there was no way he could have seen it. They are thinking of bring charges against the guy for purposely misleading the police. Can you say Obstruction of Justice charge???
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/10/...ngs/index.html

 

[GordonL]

Looks like another shooting, this time north of Richmond, VA. Not linked to the sniper yet, but same MO. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2002Oct19.html

 

[Frank Anderson]

Getting closer to home. :frowning: If it is him he struck only 30 minutes away.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Consider these facts/theories:

1. According to many ex-USMC snipers, this type of efficiency needs a team to accomplish the stealth, the immediate dissapearance, etc. Probably a spotter, shooter and driver.

2. They would need organized training/sponsorship (i.e food, lodging, vehicles, etc) since it would take a while to spot the logisitics of each sight. However, the overall budget would still be fairly inexpensive.

3. The terror suspects arrested last year in Oregon brought attention on themselves by target shooting in a quarry.

4. The PLO has used snipers on many occasions and it's been documented that some PLO activists are trained in foreign lands.

5. After the Department of Defense started flying their "infra red spy plane", everything was quiet until last night when the locale moved further South, presumably out of the plane's range.

6. Since the Air Force has the most sophisticated airborne electronic surveillance systems in the world, it is feasible they were actually monitoring radio signals for the sniper teams communication, not the infra red of a muzzle flash.

Scares the crap out of me, but even if we catch one of the perpetrators, this will probably not be over for some time. He/She will be easily replaced.

I just can't believe this is a lone, deranged lunatic.

 

[Josh Lowe]

i would be surprised if this sniper person is in cahoots with islamic terror groups. those groups like to do things that involve "martyrdom" (in other words, the killer dies with his victims) and that kill a bunch of people at once. also, i don't think any islamic fundamentalists would go around leaving tarot cards behind in their wake.

this person may very well be middle eastern. or he could be white, or black, or asian, or inuit or mummy. he might be doing it because he/she believes in the cause of al qaeda. but i seriously doubt it's an official al qaeda sanctioned terror operation.

i am willing to bet that if they catch the guy it will be a white male, mid 30s, with a background in law enforcement, the military, or militia groups. It's probably someone with direct ties to the military and law enforcement and he's using them to stay abreast of the effort to capture him. Talking to his buddies, finding out what they know, and moving accordingly. And of course his friends and connections have -no- suspicion that it's him. I bet that's what the big shocker will be when the guy's caught. That it's someone who was under their noses the whole time.

 

[MikeAlletto]

I really don't think the tarot card is connected, unless they've found others and it hasn't leaked out yet. Last nights shooting, if it is linked, is also a break from pattern. Previously he didn't hit anyone on the weekend (I considered Columbus Day not a weekend since a lot people still had to go to work).

 

[Blu]

Wow!
Everyone has their own theories on the sniper, is it one/two people, Is the Tarot card connected/is it a terrorist related attack, etc.

From what I can tell this has easily been the biggest serial murderer case in years. It has been a very morbid example of how a sicko can draw people in by killing people. I think everyone knows that a long range mobile sniper has always scared law enforcement for years but it has just never happened until now. My fear is that this person/people will not be caught and that he/they are serving as a template for the next psycho out there who will do something like this but will do it better.

The pace the sniper is on right now he will effectively shut down the entire area with a few more killings. He is elusive and I really do doubt he will not be caught unless he wants to be. 12 shootings and a lot of leads but they are really no closer to catching him than they were the day before he started this spree.

This sniper could move to another city/state and wreak havoc and still be in little to no danger of being caught unless he/they slip up or want to be caught.

 

[Frank Anderson]

I think they made a mistake but they closed my daughters school today. I do not know if they did so based on the most recent note or not. Of course I do not know what it said but if it made no mention about surrounding schools people letting this rule their lives too much.

 

[Josh Lowe]

I really don't think the tarot card is connected, unless they've found others and it hasn't leaked out yet. Last nights shooting, if it is linked, is also a break from pattern. Previously he didn't hit anyone on the weekend (I considered Columbus Day not a weekend since a lot people still had to go to work).

per MSNBC:

The message contained significant text and was found in woods behind the Ponderosa, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday, quoting law enforcement sources it did not name. The report also said police have found more than one tarot card during the investigation.


they wouldn't have released the tarot card info in the first place if they didn't have something that made them confident it was left by the killer. this further confirms it. this is a sicko serial killer, like i said probably former military or cop, not islamic fundamentalists..

 

[Blu]

they wouldn't have released the tarot card info in the first place if they didn't have something that made them confident it was left by the killer

I didn't think they released it, I was under the impression it was leaked and Chief Moose was quite upset that it got out to the media.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Law Enforcement always tries to withhold details of a case so that independent verification can take place later if a break in the case materializes, something only the perp would know about the case. That is just SOP.

 

[Micheal]

They took someone into custody this morning!
They got him at a phone booth (by a gas station) with a white van!
I just hope that they got the right guy...
It could just be some crackpot with a white van. Or maybe he called them and they traced the call faster than he figured..., or he turned himself in.
Who knows? We'll find out soon enough.

 

[Micheal]

Looks like they picked up two of them in the same area. One at the van and one nearby.

 

[MikeAlletto]

I doubt its him...too easy. I find it hard to believe that this would end with them just picking someone up randomly. But if it is them then this will make a great movie someday (I'm sure they are already writing).

 

[Nathan*W]

I doubt its him...too easy. I find it hard to believe that this would end with them just picking someone up randomly

That's not how it happened. Acting on information, police were staking out this particular Exxon waiting for the suspect to make a phone call at a pay phone. Henrico Police swarmed VERY quickly and yanked the guy from the van, and whisked him to police HQ two blocks away. Press conference at 1:00pm.

 

[Michael*K]

The ballistic tests came back on the shooting outside Richmond. Same gun as used in the previous shootings.

 

[CharlesD]

According to CNN the police received a phone call Sat. night after the latest shooting alerting them that there was a message for them in the wooded area where they think the killer fired from. They were staking out several locations in the area based on tracing that phone call.

The guy they detained this morning may just have been unlucky to be driving a white van when he stopped to use one of the phones they watching, or he might be a hoaxer (CNN mentioned that there was a hint at wanting money in the letter) or he may indeed be the killer.

At this point I'd be surprised if this is the guy. So far he has been very meticulous in planning out his actions. It seems unlikely to me that he would go back to the same phone he used to contact the police, as he must realize that they can trace the call back to its origin.

With any luck I'm wrong and they have now got the bastard.

 

[Michael*K]

That note if it was a demand for money could be a hoax. If you recall, back in '82 a man sent an extortion letter demanding money to stop the Tylenol cyanide poisonings. He was never implicated in the killings and was just seen as someone trying to capitalize on the deaths.

 

[Blu]

It could be him/them and hopefully it is but wow, it seems unlikely that it is them.
The sniper has been very careful, they could have been people in the wrong place at the wrong time or the sniper could have been just too cocky.