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Posted on 10/09/2002 6:00:51 PM PDT by Destro
Sniper Reportedly Leaves Tarot 'Death' Card
Wed Oct 9, 8:25 PM ET
By Laura MacInnis
ROCKVILLE, Md. (Reuters) - The sniper who has killed six people and wounded two in the Washington area reportedly left a Tarot card with the message "Dear Policeman, I am God" near one of the shootings, but investigators on Wednesday angrily refused to discuss evidence leaked to the media.
The sniper reportedly left the message on a Tarot "Death" card not far from where a 13-year-old student was critically injured in a shooting near Benjamin Tasker Middle School on Monday.
Investigators reportedly recovered a shell casing in woods near the school, but would not discuss any evidence, including the card, which was leaked to the media.
Police Chief Charles Moose of Montgomery County, Maryland, reacted angrily when asked about the reported message. "Someone in the team, someone on the law enforcement community has done something I find very inappropriate. It indicates that I don't have control of the team," he said.
"We're going to forget about that issue and continue with the investigation, that's the best thing to do," Moose added, saying he would be surprised if a break came from the card.
A man was taken into custody for shooting rounds inside a home in Montgomery County on Wednesday afternoon, but Moose said it was too early to link the incident to the string of shootings that has shaken the Washington area.
"It is certainly much too early in the process to make any yes or no with regards to anything being related to our situation," the chief told reporters.
Nobody was hurt in the home shooting and Moose added, "To the best of my knowledge no one was targeted."
Police had not yet filed charges, Moose said.
At an earlier briefing, the chief told reporters the investigation "continued to unfold," but offered few details about how police work was progressing in finding the killer.
"The person, or the people, that are doing this, rethink what you are doing, turn yourself in to law enforcement," Moose pleaded at a news briefing.
Since Oct. 2, the sniper has killed five people and wounded one in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, killed one person in the U.S. capital and wounded another in Fredericksburg, Virginia, about 80 miles south of Washington.
SNIPER SILENT SINCE MONDAY
With the sniper silent since early on Monday, area residents were on edge on Wednesday, wondering if the shooter might strike again. Schools in Montgomery County, which were heavily guarded by police following Monday's shooting, were closed on Wednesday for a long-planned teacher training day.
"This terrorist has injected fear into the very marrow of the community," Montgomery County State's Attorney Doug Gansler told CNN.
Authorities had also examined evidence from an earlier shooting in Montgomery County to assess if it was related to the sniper shootings. "The forensic work on the September 14 shooting is inconclusive," Moose said, adding that further tests were not expected.
Each victim was hit by a single shot fired from an assault rifle. There was no indication the victims, aged 13 to 72, knew each other. Ballistics evidence connected the crimes.
The reward offered by authorities for information leading to the arrest of the sniper grew to $305,000, said Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan. The reward had previously been $237,000.
The shootings rattled residents in and around Washington, where many people were still unnerved by the Sept. 11, 2001, strike on the Pentagon (news - web sites) and letters sent last autumn containing anthrax spores.
No one has reported seeing the shooter in any of the eight incidents. Police said the weapon was probably an assault rifle or hunting rifle accurate up to 730 yards.
The Secret Service (news - web sites), the FBI (news - web sites), U.S. Marshals and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have joined state and local police in the investigation.
Montgomery County officials also have requested assistance from U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites), seeking additional help under a federal law pertaining to serial killings.
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I think this is a great point. In "Apocalypse Now" and other Vietnam movies, the Americans drop "death cards"--either regular playing cards (like the ace of spades) or customized cards with their battalion's logo.
I think there's a good chance that the shooter is a guy in his mid-to-late twenties or early thirties who's patterning his lunacy on his memories of war movies.
"Shhhh...Miss Cleo is trying to contact me at this very moment."
You're full of more s^it than a Christmas goose.
This guy is a psychopath,You...I'll stop now.
I'll grant you that I have not found Sheriff Moose to be the most articulate law enforcement representitive that I have ever seen engaged in a high profile case, but that should not be misconstrued into something more than simply that.
Propaganda---they do not know what kind of firearm it is.
The shooter may be like a lot of people here, the only exception. He snapped! Shooting in Manassas! 53 posted on 10/9/02 10:10 PM Eastern by ET(end tyranny) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
You see that. EXCEPTION. HE SNAPPED.
By being like many here, I meant that he was a decent law abiding citizen worried about America, worried about the Constitution, worried about the Bill of Rights, worried about the Right to Bear Arms.
BUT something happened and he has lost it! Big Time!
I didn't mean to imply that you or anyone was nuts, or crazy, or loony. But Patriotic. But this guy has lost it, for whatever reason. Had you bothered to check out the link I left in a previous post, you might understand.
White male, between ages of 27-35, prior military service, general or bad conduct discharge, fascination with firearms and serial killers. Possibly married at one time, if he was it failed miserably. Single, no close attachments, loner type. Normal features, short haircut, one possibly two, military type tattoos. High school education, little if any college. No really marketable trade skills.
One thing he isn't is middle eastern. Write it down.
No hocus pocus - I'm a practicing Catholic and believe that God built this wonderous tool in all of us, which has been downplayed and underdeveloped in the laast few 1000 years.
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