Posted on 01/24/2004 8:08:09 PM PST by chance33_98
Prosecutors: Muhammad, Malvo set up sniper nest in Tacoma
SEATTLE - John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo set up a sniper nest in a Tacoma field more than a month before they began their killing spree around the nation's capital, authorities say. They apparently were getting ready to shoot someone but were interrupted by a truck that cut through the field, and they abandoned their weapon, a loaded rifle with a telescopic sight and bipod, authorities said in Friday's Seattle Times.
"I think it's fair to say that we believe they were set up to shoot someone. We can't say who or why," said James Willett, a prosecutor in Prince William County, Va.
"Based on their subsequent actions, the random shootings of 10 people, it is a reasonable assumption that they were preparing and training there for what eventually happened here."
Authorities said the weapon left in the field was owned by Earl Lee Dancy Jr., who testified at Muhammad's trial in Virginia last November that he bought it for Muhammad after Muhammad said he need a rifle.
Muhammad, 43, could not legally possess a gun because he was the subject of a domestic-violence protective order.
Virginia authorities said the abandoned rifle may explain why Muhammad shoplifted the Bushmaster assault rifle used in the October 2002 sniper spree in and around Washington, D.C.
A jury in Virginia decided Muhammad should get the death penalty. Malvo received a life sentence.
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