Well if you think about it...there are better weapons of choice. I mean damn....if you are going to be a psycho sniper go all out.....
Posted on 08/14/2009 8:10:38 PM PDT by Morgana
KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The FBI says it continues to get tips and follow leads in the unsolved Kanawha County gas station sniper-style shootings that left three dead six years ago Friday.
John Hambrick, spokesperson for the FBI in Charleston, says the investigation continues to be a collaborative effort with all of the agencies initially involved in the "sniper task force." That team, made up of local, state, and federal agencies, used to have a common working office in downtown Charleston, but the space has since been vacated.
The case is still considered "very active."
VIDEO ARCHIVES
5 Years Later First Shooting (8/11) Breaking News: Patton Shot (8/14) Two Gas Station Murders (8/15) Initial Connection (8/15) 3 Shootings Linked (8/15) Fear to Pump Gas (8/16) Suspect Vehicle Animation Unedited News Conference (8/18) One Year Later: Part 1 One Year Later: Part 2 One Year Later: Part 3 One Year Later: Part 4 One Year Later: Part 5
"We still desparately want to solve these cases," said Lt. Sean Crosier with the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.
Crosier says the sniper shooting cases will always be open and ongoing until they are solved.
To this day, no one has been charged in the shootings. They happened within five days and within miles of each other. Investigators determined the same gun was used to kill all three victims: a .22 caliber rifle.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsaz.com ...
JEANIE PATTON was the next victim four days later. She was pumping gas at the Speedway on Campbells Creek Drive when someone fired one shot that hit her head and killed her. This happened at about 10:20 p.m. on August 14, 2003. Jeanie was 31 years old and from Campbells Creek. She worked as a cook for Kanawha County Schools and left behind a son and a boyfriend of 16 years.
OKEY MEADOWS JR. was shot about 90 minutes after Patton. He was standing in line to buy milk outside the Go-Mart on Route 60 in Cedar Grove when a single bullet hit him in the neck from 70 yards away, killing him. He was 26 years old and from Cedar Grove. Okey had a 3-year-old son and was the son of WSAZ engineer, Okey Meadows Sr.
CASE INFORMATION During the course of the investigation, police say they had thousands of leads, but none led to the arrest of a suspect.
Almost immediately after the shootings happened, investigators put the public on alert for a dark-colored, black or maroon Ford F-150 extended cab pickup truck with gold trim. It seemed to be the one similarity between the shootings in Campbells Creek and Cedar Grove. Witnesses at both scenes mentioned a dark colored pickup -- and at least one person said they saw it speed away from the scene. The surveillance video system at the Go-Mart in Cedar Grove even captured a pickup truck driving on its lot prior to the shootings, but police were unable to determine if it was the actual suspect vehicle.
Investigators even went so far as to have an animation created of the suspect vehicle, and then distributed it to the media. The clip shows what the truck might have looked like driving up and down Campbells Creek Drive.
Police also released a description and sketch of the person they believe was driving the truck: a heavy-set white male with dark hair and a goatee (pictured). They referred to him as a "witness." Investigators also wanted to question a white male with a slim build, beard, and very white, hairy legs.
Sheriff Tucker also alluded to a possible drug connection between the sniper victims, but never publicly provided evidence to prove it. This angered many of the victims' family members, some of whom spoke out to the contrary via the media.
At one point during the investigation, investigators said Brian Caldwell was a "person of interest" in the case, but he was never charged. He was, however, convicted and sentenced to prison on illegal weapons charges that were in no way related to the sniper shootings.
INTERACTIVE MAP Use the Google map to the right to see exactly where each of the Kanawha County sniper shootings occurred. Click on the placemarks to bring up more information about that particular incident.
ANOTHER POSSIBLE CONNECTION Police have not ruled out the possibility that a fourth shooting that happened months before the others is somehow connected to the August sniper shootings.
Randy Burgess, 29, of Mink Shoals, was leaving the Kroger at the Kanawha Mall in Charleston at about 8:30pm on March 20, 2003, when police say he was shot twice in the chest with a .30 caliber, high-powered rifle.
Police say Burgess then made his way back into the store to get help. He died the next day at the hospital.
Investigators never really publicly linked Burgess' murder with the others, but we observed Burgess' picture on a bulletin board with the others during a follow-up interview with the FBI one year after the sniper shootings. Joe Ciccarelli, the then-spokesperson for the Charleston office of the FBI, said they were not able to rule it out as possibly being connected.
WHERE THE CASE STANDS The FBI in Charleston continues to lead the investigation, but all of the original sniper task force consisting of the FBI, ATF, Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, West Virginia State Police, and the Charleston Police Department, continue to work on the cases.
Anyone with information about the Kanawha Valley sniper shootings is asked to call 1-866-WV-WATCH. Tips can also be submitted on the FBI's Web site: https://tips.fbi.gov
How could you gun down three innocent people and even sleep at night for 6 years.
Whomever this person is. I pray they will self destruct mentally. maybe their souls will become so tortured that they will out themselves. like the BTK guy out west.
The report states a .22 rifle killed all three. Do they mean a .22 LR, or a .223?
“How could you gun down three innocent people and even sleep at night for 6 years.
Whomever this person is. I pray they will self destruct mentally. maybe their souls will become so tortured that they will out themselves. like the BTK guy out west.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why do you think I am posting this on a national news forum????
A. To catch the perp.
B. To bug his conscience.
C. In the hopes someone who saw something will call and tell the police.
D. All of the above?
Where every you are Mr. Sniper....we the FReepers will find you!!!!!
good question.....I did not write the story.... Maybe you could check with the original police report? What does this mean...BTW?
I have shot with a .22 rifle. I doubt that would kill someone unless that person was a REALLY GOOD DAMN SHOT.
What kind of gun was John Mohammad using???
Suppose the shooter(s) already committed suicide a long time ago. We’d probably never know about it.
Wrong but interesting.
Well if you think about it...there are better weapons of choice. I mean damn....if you are going to be a psycho sniper go all out.....
I noticed 'high powered .30 cal' was specified on the 4th guy [2 to the chest and he lived for a day] but the '22' cal head/neck shots were one & done...
had to have been a supercharged 22 from 'sniping' range...
IIRC, a .308 or 30-30
A camp carbine in .45 would be an effective urban sniper weapon for under 100 yards. I wonder if the crack of a rifle was heard by bystanders, or if a thud was heard? And who's to say a rifle was used if it was actually .22 LR that made the kills? A long barrel with mounted scope pistol could do the shots.
Or suppose the shooter has been incarcerated for these many years, say on a weapons charge without being tied to the murders.
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