Topic awaiting preservation: Sniper, continued...

Continued from here.

FREDERICK, Maryland (CNN) -- A Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle was recovered from the vehicle impounded during the overnight arrest of two suspects in the Washington-area sniper case, a law enforcement source told CNN Thursday.

All of the sniper victims -- 10 dead, three wounded since October 2 -- were hit by a single .223-caliber shot. Washington radio station WTOP reported that a rifle, a scope and a tripod had been recovered from the suspects' vehicle.

A source also told CNN that the car -- a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice -- had been modified with a hole bored in the trunk, which could allow someone to shoot from inside the vehicle. The rifle was found behind a seat.

Members of the sniper task force converged on a freeway rest stop before dawn and arrested John Allen Muhammad, 41, also known as John Allen Williams, a Gulf War veteran, and his 17-year-old stepson John Lee Malvo, a Jamaican citizen. (Muhammad profile)

The arrests were made under federal warrants -- for Muhammad on a firearms charge from western Washington state, and for Malvo on a material witness warrant out of Greenbelt, Maryland, stemming from the sniper case.

Sniper investigators were looking into a possible connection to a fatal shooting at a liquor store in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery Police Chief John Wilson said Thursday that there were "some very good similarities" between Malvo and a composite sketch of the attacker in the September 21 shooting.

Authorities said Thursday they had made a match between a fingerprint lifted from the scene and Malvo. But Wilson said the weapon used in the Montgomery shooting is not the same as has been used in the shootings in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. (Full story)

The Baltimore Sun reported that authorities were tipped to the Alabama connection by a recent phone call believed to be from the sniper, who said that investigators should "take him seriously" and "check with the people in Montgomery," or words to that effect.

Muhammad and Malvo are being interrogated at a jail in Montgomery County, Maryland, where the string of deadly shootings began three weeks ago, and where the most recent victim linked to the sniper was killed Tuesday. (Trail of the sniper)

Muhammad and Malvo were sleeping at the rest stop in their car, which a motorist and attendant recognized as matching the description of a vehicle authorities were looking for -- a blue or burgundy 1990 Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey license plate NDA 21Z. (More on arrests)

"We didn't actually see any police officers for a while, until they actually stormed the parking lot where the vehicle was," said rest stop attendant Larry Blank. "There were helicopters, police cars everywhere."

The rest area is along a seven-mile stretch of Interstate 70 near Myersville, Maryland, that had been shut down in a dragnet launched just a few hours earlier by Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, the head of the sniper task force.

"This is such a shock," Sheila Tezando, Muhammad's sister-in-law, told CNN. She said there was nothing in their demeanor that would lead her to believe that they were capable of any violent act.

Other developments
?President Bush was told Thursday morning that law enforcement officials are confident the arrests of Muhammad and Malvo represent a significant breakthrough, a senior administration official said. "It is an ongoing situation, but he was told they are optimistic they have cracked this," the official said.

?A source said the U.S. Marshals Service was able to connect Muhammad with the car and license plate through information filed by officers from an October 8 traffic stop in Baltimore, Maryland. Muhammad was sleeping in his car at the time. The officers were concerned that his driver's license was from Washington state and the vehicle tag was from New Jersey.


Malvo, left, with Muhammad in an undated photo.



?A State Department official said Thursday the department has no record of having issued an immigrant or a non-immigrant U.S. visa to a John Malvo from Jamaica.

?In Camden, New Jersey, Police Capt. Joe Richardson said Thursday that police, FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies searched the apartment to which the suspects' car was registered.

?Authorities searched a duplex in Tacoma, Washington on Wednesday and left with a tree trunk apparently used for target practice. Sources said Muhammad once served at Fort Lewis, not far from the duplex. (Full story)

?Military officials told CNN Muhammad was not trained as a sniper and was not in the Special Forces, but had expertise in combat support missions.

?North of Tacoma near the Canadian border, the mayor of Bellingham, Washington said the FBI and local police had searched Bellingham High School, where Malvo reportedly attended school last year.

?The FBI is denying earlier reports that it conducted searches related to the sniper investigation in Marion, Alabama. Local police had said the search centered on a site called "Ground Zero USA" which specializes in special weapons and tactical training. "We have not searched Ground Zero," said Tim Munson, the special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Mobile, Alabama. "We have no interest."

?At a midnight news conference Wednesday, Moose delivered another message to the sniper, urging him to contact police. "You have indicated that you want us to do and say certain things. You asked us to say, 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.' We understand that hearing us say this is important to you," Moose said. (Full message)

?After the October 3 shooting of Pascal Charlot, 72, in Washington, D.C., law enforcement officials searched for a burgundy Chevrolet Caprice. One such car was later found burned out in the D.C. area, but it was never determined whether it had anything to do with the fatal shooting.

COURETSY OF CNN.COM

Hopefully judging by this they got them

Let us hope so. I knew the guy had no sniper training...

WS, this article should hold particular interest for you. Have you heard that story before?

'Duck in Noose' Reference Explained http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,66628,00.html

well they have appeared in court and authorities have announced just now, that the weapon recovered from the car is a balistics match
(meaning it was the actual weapon used) for those in the sniper cases.

edit: the bushmaster is the civillian version of the M-16

one last thought, a quote from the defence department

Muhammad earned an expert marksmanship badge with the M-16 during his service in the Army, the highest level of expertise given by the military, defense officials at the Pentagon said. That means he had to hit 36 out of 40 targets at a range of about 50 to 300 meters.

this would explain the misses..

although not qualified as a sniper he was graded as an expert marksman.

Hopefully everyone can now get back to normal and these two will get what they deserve, as its a federal case it will carry the death penalty i hope.

my thoughts remain with those affected by these two..



[This message has been edited by tomeaglescz (edited 10-25-2002).]

Pathetic, no?

What the fuck was up with this 'white van' shit?

Anything yet on a motive?

Yeah, Bugs...ol mister rabbit...hehe...the stories are kinda interesting...and yes, I've heard the saying before. Thanks for posting, though!

Ohhh...he is an 'expert' marksman...so what? I am too...got the medal to show it...big deal. It's not hard to accomplish that on the range, if you have had previous shooting experience...and even then, there are those who acheive 'Expert' without that...

It is what happens after shooting expert that is interesting...when I was in, all who shot 39-40 out of 40, then got tested for sniper training...I got 39 out of 40...but the sniper test is really hard...didn't make it. Most don't.

I find it interesting, that this guy changed his name to an islamic one...and that in the 'reports', the authorities immediately said officially, that he is acting alone...I find this curios. How can they know that, without fully investigating his background, etc? Most disturbing...maybe they wish to throw off any suspicion, so they can conduct a background check easier...still find it curious...

Glad to see that they finally got this guy...it was getting bad...

Hope the families at least get the chance to see this guy get what he deserves...not that it will make their pain any less.

During his marksmanship training in WWII my grandfather came top of his class because i was assessed 50%: shooting 50% written technical exam and although he was a poor shot everyone else was illiterate

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

I'm sure glad it's over. A co-workers brother was killed by that guy. The last three weeks have been hellish here.

Jeez what is it with kids and guns in the USA, one of the snipers was a kid and now some 19 year old shoots his neighbour a few others including a 2 year old girl, you guys need to get ya shit together with ya gun laws...

Ok so it says in the 2nd amendment ya hav the right to bear arms, but for fucks sake what about all those that have the right to a peaceful life, ya get kids on the rampage in schools in the streets, SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG!!!!!

In my opinion if a kid gets hold of a gun that is his parents, and he kills people with it, they ARE JUST AS DAMN GUILTY for not taking the proper precautions.

I'll say it again.

Power.

Kids + Guns = Power

Or at least a teeming bit of self satisfaction, but mostly power. This kid and his dad killed 9 people before they were cought, that's damn good shooting.

I'll say it first:

Worms in brain + gun = psychopath

The 2nd Amendment gives us the ability to maintain a well regulated militia, the NRA says we have the right to bear weapons. Sadly enough for the United States, most conservative politicians don't seem to draw a distinction between the two.

-Jestah
Cell 277

Hmm, now thats an interesting way to look it Jestah.

You see by militia that is NG (National Guard), the NRA is refering to the right to bear arms. So there is a distinction between the two, people sometimes tend to get confused...

Any word yet on the trial? Conviction? Evidence? Defense?

Sorry I haven't been watching the news this weekend.

Current news is ...they are toast! Files being charged in Alabama, Maryland and quite likely Virginia. Alabama is looking for the death penalty for both of them. Maryland is asking for death penalty for the Adult. Virginia will probably seek the death penalty for both.

Regardless what happens from here...they will be in court for the next ten years easy ..Great torture.*L*..maybe that's worse than the death penalty.

Insider - I'm not really sure why your associating the National Guard and the militia. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the National Guard is still composed of professional solidiers. I do believe they get paid for it. A militia is a military of non-professionals. With the establishment of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard, a militia has long since become unnecessary 'to the security of a free state.' Wanna be cowboys don't seem to realize this.

-Jestah
Cell 277

National Guard and Militias
National Guard Fact Sheet

The National Guard is the organized militia reserved to the states by the Constitution of the United States under Article 1, Section 8. In peacetime, the National Guard is commanded by the governor of each respective state or territory. When ordered to active duty for mobilization or called into federal service for emergencies, units of the Guard are under the control of the appropriate service secretary. The militia clause reserves the appointment of officers and the authority of training the militia (according to Congressionally prescribed standards) to the states. In 1903, Congress officially designated the organized militia as the National Guard and established procedures for training and equipping the Guard to active duty military standards.

State Defense Force
The State Defense Force is a form of militia and is authorized to the states by federal statute (Title 32 U.S. Code 109). State Defense Forces are not entities of the federal government. They are organized, equipped, trained, employed and funded according to state laws and are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the governor. Should the National Guard be mobilized for war, specialized operations such as humanitarian or peacekeeping missions or called into federal service during national emergencies, the State Defense Force will assume the National Guard's mission for the state's security.

Unorganized Militia
Federal law and state laws generally define the militia as "all able-bodied males between ages 17 and 45." Federal statute (Title 10 U.S. Code311) defines the unorganized militia as all members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or Naval Militia.

Self-Proclaimed Private Militias
Some private individuals, without government sanction, have banded together and styled themselves "militias." These militias answer to no government, they have no formal or informal relationship with the National Guard and are not state recognized organizations. They are private organizations, some paramilitary in nature, that use the term militia in their names.

Membership Requirements
National Guard: 1)Must be a citizen or permanent resident alien; must be between the ages of 17 and not have reached their 35th birthday at time of enlistment; must pass an Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a Standard Armed Forces Physical Examination and be of good moral character; must be available for initial active duty training; and must agree to participate in an initial tour of active duty training of at least 12 weeks. Individuals with prior service in any branch of the U.S. military may receive credit for that service and join the National Guard at an age greater than 35. 2)State Defense Force: Persons serving in the Armed Forces and persons who are members of reserve components of the Armed Forces cannot be members of a State Defense Force.

Forgot the URL which has links to all those areas posted http://www.ngb.dtic.mil/downloads/fact_sheets/

I stand corrected, although it still seems by definition the National Guard isn't a militia.

-Jestah
Cell 277

Welcome ettie, I see that you are new .

Just to let you know for your personal reference, look at this picture ( ) it is the edit button, it is right above your post. Just click it and you can edit your posts and that way you don't have to add bandwidth to the thread by posting again .

By the way! Heh. Yes sitting down while their fate resides in the court room is much worse than death. But, it's hearing that you have been sentenced to death that tops it off, and the longer you wait untill that day comes when you are executed, the more you have to think about it. Which would suck. Personally I think executing hypocritical but I won't get into that. And probably the most frightening part (well to me it would be) is walking down the hall and sitting in the damn chair/or chamber/or operating table, and then waiting to be fried/immolated/injected.

What would really be fitting IMO (and yes this is sadistic), is to line the up from a 400 yard distance, and have an unexpirienced relative to one of their victims, attempt, to shoot them with as many rounds as it takes before they are hit.

Yea that would strike true fear, definately.


_____________________
Prying open my third eye.

insider...

forgot about that edit thing ...(most places don't have that so I am not quite used to it yet i think)

when burt's bother was killed by that sniper ..we had a few more really cool ideas for his execution..much more macabe than yours..so don't worry about that..*L*

As an aside...I kinda hope they give that priest that ratted on them the reward..bet he'd put it to wonderful use.

Are we off topic? *L*

(btw where is the spell check *groan*)

*L* ..using the edit thing...

You may be right..having them both be someone's boyfriend in prison for the rest of their lives might be a better fate ..much more humane muhahahahah.

*slaps self*..i'm back now..



[This message has been edited by ettie (edited 10-28-2002).]

If you wanna see something interesting go here..follow the links to read the letters he sent. This is some increadible stuff. http://www.msnbc.com/news/825625.asp?pne=msn

http://www.theonion.com/onion3842/beltway_sniper_video-game.html

Umm, yea... Have they gone to far here???

WTF!!! I can't believe the... the... audacity that these idiots have!! The proceeds from the sales will be given to the families.... Hell! I wouldn't want it. Video games with soldiers being snipers is completely different from this sort of thing. This is beyond insult and stupidity. If ever there was a game that could be cited for causing acts of violence I would think that this would be it.

GrythusDraconis
Prince of Gold - Lord of Dragons

GrythusDraconis - it's not a real game. GN was referring to theonion.com itself.

BLINK... BLINK

LOL(at self)

DOH! I sorta blanked on that fact. So.... uh... yeah, they went to far...

GrythusDraconis
Prince of Gold - Lord of Dragons

The Onion is known for it's poor taste. That's one of the reasons it survives!

You should have seen some of the stuff they had about Sep 11... If you think the sniper game is tasteless, go check out their archives!

I do, on occasion, enjoy a good tasteless chuckle periodically... Helps me keep my cynicism up to a healthy level...

Bodhi - Cell 617

Yeah... I know that... I just... I dunno. I've been stressed lately. At least I took it out on something fake instead of someone real. heh. But sometimes the onion stries are somewhat based in reality. Maybe they caught wind of a game that was actually thought of at some point.

GrythusDraconis
Prince of Gold - Lord of Dragons

Now that wouldn't surprise me in the least! People being how they are you know...

Bodhi - Cell 617

I thought it was real also....

This guy at work sent it to me.... We all thought it was real.



Well, it was pretty hard to believe...