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"

[exmarine]

What bothers me about this is that the authorities are looking at "ex military" Americans as the likely suspect, and while they are questioning the ex-marine in Maryland, the real sniper kills another person. Duh.... Will there ever come a day when our govt. doesn't target Americans instead of the real enemy - middle eastern TERRORISTS! Why do they ALWAYS assume an American is behind it - e.g. Richard Jewel, the antrhax attacks, now this ex-marine?

[fhillary2]

I agree; but that is nothing compared with the potential roadblock problems that will occur if the perp moves further west into less populated counties where we don't have the large county police forces. However, if he does go west we will not need as many units to shut down the escape routes, hopefully.

I am praying this guy doesn't visit neighboring(Next to Fairfax) Loudoun County but judging from his activities in VA, he likes to spread the misery. We also have A Micheal's store in Sterling less than 2 miles from where I live.

[Peach]

A vehicle inside another vehicle? I don't know. The box truck might have a ramp. Sounds like a movie, doesn't it?

[OReilly]

Boodhounds following a trail 4-5 miles from the parking lot to the beltway? Hmmmm. <<<< This would fit in with the witness reports leaked after the school shooting: a man seen heading towards the wooded area, something like that. Anybody remembers the details?

I saw a TV interview with a 40 year old black male (out of breath, but not carrying anything) who was out walking in the area of the school at 8 am, who heard a shot, but didn't see anything??

[Smogger]

On another note this guy Anderson, the FBI agent who is the former head of the Joint Terrorism Task Force who was on FOX News this morning did not impress me at all. The FOX News guy was asking him about the possibility of it being related to International Terrorism what with the calls for renewed violence against the US, the shootings in Kuwait, the bombings in Bali and the economic and pyschological damage that the sniper is inflicting.

Can any of you guess what the guy said?

"Oh no! There are no indications that it could be related to international terrorism" (What a suprise!)

So the FOX News guy asks why not, and the FBI guy says, "Well there have been no claims of responsiblity.." blah blah blah.

And I am thinking to myself what a moron. When was the last time Al Qaida took credit for an attack on the US? Doesn't this guy know it doesn't work like that anymore? Did they take credit for 9-11? The bombing of the Cole? This latest attack in Bali? These people (the Feds) are living in a timewarp. If your a terrorist and you want to get away with it all you have to do is think outside the box for about 10 minutes and you can stump the Feds. They seem incapable of seeing beyond their preconceived notions.

[mewzilla]

Too right. How that dingleberry can stand there and say anything with any certainty, other than that this poor woman was indeed a victim of this psycho, is beyond me.

[nevergore]

"So I'm asking again:

How come none of the government employees swarming through that place started chasing the killer(s) or shooting back? I suppose some of them have to be armed..."

Chase where? Shoot where? a single shot gives virtually no signature on direction....especially when you're not expecting it....

I suppose they could run aimlessly around in circles with their guns drawn shooting at random targets......The police didn't identify the shooters location until daylight and after balistic techs identified possible direction of fire....

Maybe you should offer them your expertise in this area.....speed things up....

Geeeezz!

NeverGore

[Kip Lange]

Appreciated, the double threads were starting to confuse me (then again, I'm easily confused :p). Thanks.

--KL

[berkeleybeej]

What bothers me about this is that the authorities are looking at "ex military" Americans as the likely suspect, and while they are questioning the ex-marine in Maryland, the real sniper kills another person.

Why do so many on this board think that the cops are ONLY pursuing this one idea? Methinks that they have teams of investigators that are pursuing all of the different scenarios.

[Peach]

Thanks for replying. I won't post the separate graphics post anymore. When I post this in the a.m., is there a section that says "Extended News" (I can't remember). Thanks again.

[aristeides]

Two previous head shots: Ramos on the bench at Leisure World, and the man at the gas station in Manassas. The Haitian man, Pascal Charlot, was hit in the neck.

[mewzilla]

I'm wondering if the head shot might be indicative of more than one shooter, someone more confident of his shot maybe in this case.

[Admin Moderator]

Yes, there is a sidebar called "Extended News", which is the topic 'extended'.

[jbstrick]

[Darnright]

"Now THIS ONE doesn't seem to be totally random now, does it? What are the odds???"

Fairly good, I'd say, that at least one victim could be a government employee. The FBI is a pretty large employer in those parts, and the percentage of government employees is far higher than other areas of the country.

Not only that, I was musing on the fact that this poor victim and her husband probably thought the odds were good that a covered, sheltered garage was a safer place to park than an open parking lot.

On another note, a yellow Ryder type truck was the object of major police interest about 250 miles from DC in southwest Virginia. Seems the cargo it was carrying consisted of a white Astro van.

Poor guy driving was from Oklahoma. Probably got 10 years scared off his life...

[Sacajaweau]

One of the Oregon cell was in OUR military.

Sac

[Miss Marple]

Regarding your questions about ballistic evidence, that is all the Virginia police spokesman said this morning. I have no idea what type of ballistic evidence.

[2rightsleftcoast]

Search the nearby Mosques. We should be searching them all anyway. Didn't all this start right after the Portland arrests? Weren't they caught because they were target shooting in a remote area?

[lentulusgracchus]

Ok, *if* she was working on the case, then it means there is a HUGE leak in the FBI, and a connection between the feds and the sniper.

You can't assume that. You can't argue that until you get a better indication that she wasn't shot just as randomly as the others. She lived in the area, there's an FBI office in the area, what are the chances that, shooting someone at that time of day, the shooter would catch some agency employee?

That said, the shooter will be celebrating obscenely with his towel-boy, and the FBI is going to go red-eyed to go after this guy. Now Chief Moose is off the hook. Now the big agencies will step to the plate. Expect a press conference with Ashcroft at least on this today.

[Fred Mertz]

The police didn't identify the shooters location until daylight and after balistic techs identified possible direction of fire....

So where was the shooter's nest for this Home Depot murder? TIA