Beltway Sniper Shootings-FR Commentary-Tuesday, Oct. 15

Fox News, CNN, Press Conferences | October 15, 2002 | Fox News, CNN, Press Conferences

[Peach]

To avoid multiple vanity threads regarding any news from press conferences, let's keep a live commentary thread going again today.

Note: This is the graphics-free thread. Graphics can be found under the thread titled "Beltway Sniper Shootings-Graphics Only"

[areafiftyone]

I think it is time to start calling in for help from law enforcement from big cities. They need to get some help on this.

[tomkat]

keep your chin up lady     

think there might be a thong tie-in here somewhere ?
</bad humor>

tk
FCHS '73

[alisasny]

The Columbine Killers knew they had 15 minutes and would not come out alive...this is so much more calculating...the randomness of it is truly scary...

I lean more and more to muslim fanatics as the time goes on....

[Lucky]

I would hope they would have undercover police watching the mosques.

[Miss Marple]

Fox reporter (news conference now ended) commenting on "No comments" on license plates, description, etc.

[Wordsmith]

bump

[hispanarepublicana]

I think about the upcoming Christmas shopping season

That's why I think it has something to do with someone's beliefs or religion, and that it's likely Islamic terrorists or religious cultists/fanatics of some kind. However, they would have to be very good at knowing Christmas shopping patterns. I can tell you for a fact that from Labor Day through Thanksgiving is the prime Christmas DECORATING/CRAFTING shopping season for the serious Christmas Crafters (Michael's is one of the leading places to buy this stuff). Some of the ladies on this thread will agree with me, especially if they've ever tried to shop for Christmas crafting/decorating materials after Thanksgiving and before Christmas--it's usually all picked over by then, and there's not enough time in any event to sit and make wreaths, etc.

[glock rocks]

commenting on "No comments"

LOL. it's what they do best.

[Miss Marple]

You are correct. If your theory holds, the next places would be stores that sell ready-made decor and Christmas cards ...such as Hallmark stores.

Hopefully whoever this is will be caught before then.

[twntaipan]

I would too. But in the post-Clinton era of political-correctness, that might be deemed as "offensive".

Remember the fit Rumsfeld had last year when a Predator had high level AQ guys in site, and some panty-waist military lawyer (from the Clinton era) said we should not shoot? Political correctness will kill us if the Islamonazis don't first.

[areafiftyone]

Why can't it be American fanatics? Americans can be cold and calculating as we have seen from previous serial murders. All it takes is a map and some details. That's why I think this person had former military training. Believe me when you want to kill you either set it up way before time or you do it at the spur of the moment. These are all set up. Its just a matter of picking your target which is the spur of the moment for them. Everything else is planned. I am sure anyone with knowledge of the area or knows how to use a map can do it. Its the fear and shock factor which is making it seem like this person is smarter than we are. He is good because he plans everything before he does it he just doesn't go randomly into a place and start shooting he is methodical which we haven't seen since the Zodiac killer and Son of Sam.

[Sacajaweau]

There are thousands of possibilities. I think many expected him to wait till Tuesday when everyone was on a normal schedule and I do think that was an original plan.

Some oddball things happened though within the few hours of the hit. The Marine incident and the abandoned truck incident.

I think those incidents (for whatever reason) provoked him to strike early perhaps just to add to the confusion and give him a better possibility of escape. He may switch to all nightime hits this week and I think if this hit was in the daytime, it couldn't be pulled off.

The guy uses Michael like an index...looking up Michael's in the phone book, putting numbers to them Target 1,2,3, etc and using GPS to get him in and OUT of an area. He's been to all the sites previously and that's how he picked the order.

I don't know how the auto GPS units work and maybe someone can help out..do they give you several routes?

Can someone check a Maryland Virginia DC phone book and see if there is any correlation by address or listing order??

How many Michael's are there in Virginia, Maryland and DC.

Praying for all.

Sac

[Miss Marple]

Light colored Chevy Astro van with a tail light out (left) NOT cracked or broken. According to Colin Spencer of Fox, the partial license plate information is from that vehicle.

[Pete]

If you want to do something to help solve these killings, go to this thread.

SniperWatch.com is up and running!

If anyone has any suggestions for how we can use the site in different ways, I am all ears.

[Quilla]

Dying in a car accident doesn't involve forethought and malice. Whenever my children leave home driving, I'm naturally worried until they return. But when a killer is randomly targeting innocents and even killing children, most parents will be fearful for their children's lives. Fear can lead to caution. I don't see it a bad thing.

[Doc Savage]

People see the guy actually firing and getting into his van. But no one chases him, runs closer to get the plate number (if real), no one yells "Stop that guy!" or any thing vaguely resembling a warning.

No this guy just calmly gets back in his van, bold as the night, and drives off into what can only be construed as a traffic nightmare of cars and lights. No one is carrying a concealed weapon who can make an attempt at stopping him.

People see the guy, but we never hear, was he young, old, was he bald or did he have hair, was it short or long, did he have a beard or facial hair, was he tall or short, heavy or skinny, did he shoot right handed or left-handed, was he wearing a delivery or repair uniform, how was he dressed, did the rifle have a long barrel.

Can they describe the weapon's color, shape, when the van left did it emit white or black exhaust from the tailpipe in a constant stream, what kind of side-view mirrors did it have, what was the shape of the taillights, was the one just out or broken.

At first I suspected a couple of mind-numbed 20 year old dropout computer game geeks off on a new thrill. But the consistent head shots from a distance, and the upper left chest (heart) shots, and the fact that he never feels the need to squeeze off another round, to me suggests a superbly trained, highly confident marksman, perhaps foreign-born and trained, perhaps AQ as part of a sleeper-cell in the D.C. area.

The nearby mosques should be canvassed and searched for any mosque-owned vans, as well as any garages they use for vehicles they own.

I pray this guy is stopped soon. It seems to have no end in sight.

[areafiftyone]

If this psycho isn't caught by the time people start shopping for Christmas either drive to another state to shop or go online. It will be safer and also give you piece of mind. At least that is what I would do. :-)