22-Caliber Rifle Used in W.Va. Slayings

AP/Yahoo ^ | 8/20/03 | AP Staff

[Pro-Bush]

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Ballistic tests show a .22-caliber rifle was used in last week's separate sniper-style slayings of two people outside of rural convenience stores, police said. Tests were incomplete on the third victim.

Kanawha County Chief Deputy Phil Morris said it also appears that the two shootings were drug related.

Ballistics tests showed Jeanie Patton, 31, and Okey Meadows Jr., 26, were killed Aug. 14 by the same weapon, Morris said during a news conference.

The two Campbells Creek residents were shot from 50 yards to 75 yards away.

Tests were incomplete on the bullet that killed 44-year-old Gary Carrier Jr. four days earlier while he was making a telephone call outside a Charleston convenience store.

However, Morris said the characteristics of the bullet found in the Charleston shooting is similar to those of the bullets in the other two shootings.

Police also released enhanced photographs of a Ford F-150 extended cap pickup similar to a vehicle that eyewitnesses to the Campbells Creek shootings have described as being at the scene. No vehicle has been identified in the Charleston shooting.

Super Software, an Australian video company, has provided images of the pickup that were enhanced to represent nighttime conditions to help spark additional information from potential eyewitnesses. The company also produced images of the white vehicle police originally sought in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings last year.

[Pro-Bush]

A .22 huh? What does this say about this so-called sniper?

[RogueIsland]

Sigh. It would be nice if they specified: .22 short, .22 long rifle, .22 magnum, .223...

[WorkingClassFilth]

He has developed a flinching problem with center-fire weapons?

[lawdude]

"It would be nice if they specified: .22 short, .22 long rifle, .22 magnum, .223..."

If you posed the question to the reporter, I will bet $100 he/she wouldn't have a friggin clue as to what you were talking about!

[hoosierboy]

Its gotta be a .223, I dont just don't think the sniper could be lucky to pop off 3 people with a .22lr with one shot.

Probably some dumb reporter who didn't do their research.

[dirtboy]

. The company also produced images of the white vehicle police originally sought in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings last year.

And we all know how effective THAT was in stopping the snipers.

[ko_kyi]

I am shocked a reporter/talking head doesn't suggest investigating anyone in WV who bought .22 ammo :)

[Joe Brower]

I'm betting a .223. This would jive with the rest of the M.O. of this copycat criminal that the leftmedia has created.

[from occupied ga]

I am shocked a reporter/talking head doesn't suggest investigating anyone in WV who bought .22 ammo

Give it time. Some moron will suggest this along with barrel fingerprints, FOID cards to buy ammo and just about every other thing on the Brady/Kennedy/Schumer/Feinstein/Bush gun control wish list.

[Myrddin]

An examination of the weight, form factor and jacket characteristics would expose much about the cartridge type. Most .22LR is round nose, 40 gr with a noticed cupped tail associated with the rimfire casing and a light copper guilding or no copper at all. A .223 rifle tends to use 55 gr spitzer with a flat or boat tail and a heavy copper jacket.

Typical .223 bullet

Typical .22 rimfire cartridges.

[Pro-Bush]

Its gotta be a .223, I dont just don't think the sniper could be lucky to pop off 3 people with a .22lr with one shot.

I agree

[Seamus Mc Gillicuddy]

Sigh. It would be nice if they specified: .22 short, .22 long rifle, .22 magnum, .223...

NO, NO, NO! To the media, any .22 cal is bad. I'm surprised they didn't call it an ".22 cal automatic machine gun sniper assault rifle." Can't let facts get in the way of their reporting, now, can we?

[Shooter 2.5]

My favorite story was the gangbanger types who walked into my friend's gunshop and scooped up some .223 bullets and placed them on the counter next to the register. My friend asked them if that's exactly what they wanted. They said yes.

I wish my friend would have just let them buy them while explaining there were no refunds. He didn't. He asked them if they reloaded and then told them what they were trying to buy. They left without buying anything.

[cryptical]

Maybe they should just go ahead, and ban everything as large or larger than this "high-powered, man-killing, sniper rifle".

What would anyone need with a rifle that could kill someone with a single bullet? One shot, one kill indeed.

There's probably a racist, sexist and homophobic subculture formed around weapons of this type.

Irregardless of the wisdom of a ban, remember, it's for the children
.

[latrans]

I wouldn't want to take a 22 magnum in the skull, even from
100 yards.

[stevio]

So.... What were they trying to buy?

[from occupied ga]

it's for the children

Yes of course, not only that, but the reason that bans don't work is that they "don't go far enough" The reason that DC is the murder capital of the US is that Arlington VA (with 1/15th of the DC murder rate) doesn't ban guns. Ask any anti-gun bureaucrat, ask Moose. They'll all tell you that with a straight face.

[meandog]

Its gotta be a .223, I dont just don't think the sniper could be lucky to pop off 3 people with a .22lr with one shot.

I couldn't disagree more...I once witnessed a 300-pound feral hog taken down by a .22lr. It is especially good caliber at close range (ask anyone who owns an North American 5-shot watch pocket pistol)

[VoiceOfBruck]

or a 22-250. Boom!

[DocRock]

Could have also been a centerfire .22 Hornet

http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~bkhornet/22hornet_files/wcf+horn.jpg

[DocRock]

or a 220 Swift...

(Can anyone tell me how to post pics please? Or is that just for moderators?)

[Pro-Bush]

I agree that a .22 is deadly. They said the shots were taken from 50-75 yards away...That is over 150 feet! And what I am really getting at is that this is not a professional sniper if he is using a .22.

[TERMINATTOR]

You're probably right, but it might be a .22LR, or Magnum hollow point. That might help explain why, at least one of the bullets broke up. HP's are usually lighter, and have a higher velocity. For instance I've got some PMC Zapper 22LR HP's that are 38 gr.

This is NOT a "hot tip"! I havn't been to WV for decades. Gota go now, the black helicopters are circling. ;^)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

.22 rimfire or .22 center-fire?

[Pro-Bush]

We don't know yet, the lame-brain AP reporter did not specify.

[maxwell]

it also appears that the two shootings were drug related.

Huh?

[samanella]

If the "reporter" was from WV, they'd know....riflery is taught in the schools there.

[Sender]

I have the smallest NAA in .22 short. I used to use CB caps to shoot into a bullet trap across the den from my couch. But don't tell my wife, she worries :)

[samanella]

Irregardless is not a word.

[Sender]

Riflery was taught there, now WVU rifle team lost funding in favor of more football. I think. Any 'Eers out there in the know?

[Pro-Bush]

Yeah, you got me. I haerd on the radio this morning that they think the shootings were organized, as opposed to random acts. The authorities think that the people shot were actually targeted and stalked by the sniper. Probably that stupid chief Moose charachter spouting such theories. (Remember the White man in a White van?)

[maxwell]

Okay here it is...

Cops think there might be a drug link-- apparently alot of meth labs in the area. Cops are waffling on the "large white male" thing too...

[coloradan]

Irregardless ain't a word. Please!

[Hegemony Cricket]

Your secret's saafe with me (and my 300 million closest friends here on the net).

[Shooter 2.5]

I don't quite remember. I think it was more of a one-sided conversation with my friend just telling them what was on the counter wouldn't help them without a press, brass, powder and primers.

There have been incidences just lately where a half dozen gang-banger types would descend on the gunshops I go to and start getting grabby with the merchandise. It's impossible for a lone employee to watch all of them at once.

[Hegemony Cricket]

oops. saafe = safe

[wardaddy]

While I agree it is most likely .223 or .222, you are correct that .22WMR is quite lethal.

[wardaddy]

.220 Swift is the best and arguably most lethal round under the .270 in size.

A most excellent cartridge.

[NYFriend]

No to mention the terminal performance difference between a .22LR and 5.56 NATO. On a side note, could a CB cap penetrate a human skull? I'm sure it could kill, especially in an accident, but I've never heard of a human actually be hit by one.

[samanella]

You done got that right. There, I'm done venting.

[novacation]

It says the sick bastard is a good shot to have killed three people with a 22.

[gorush]

"Irregardless is not a word."

I'm ascared you're right...does that make us co-conspirators? :{)

[DrNo]

Scoped Ruger Volquartsen .22 lr?

[Orion78]

HTML Sandbox
HTML Bootcamp

[Hegemony Cricket]

Lone employee?

"Do ya think we're let you just walk out of here?"

"We - who is we, pig-head sucka'?"

"Me... and Smith... and Wesson."

[Ramius]

It occurs to me that a .22LR is one of the few rifle & pistol rounds that can be very effectively silenced. Not just "suppressed". Properly done, something like a Ruger mark II, with a long barrel, silencer, and a modest scope would be pretty effective at those ranges and very hard to detect where it came from.

[Shooter 2.5]

Which barrel length do you suppose he's using?

[Shooter 2.5]

You know it wasn't until AFTER that incident he started to have a gun on him?

[samanella]

I mean in elementary school. I was taught to shoot a .22 at 10 and got my own .22 at 12...shot my expert rating at 14 at girls' summer camp -- in WV. As I've said, don't mess with WV women...

[CFC__VRWC]

Also, .22 LR is virtually untraceable. It's sold in such immense quantities and in so many locations (you can buy a box of 550 .22 LRs for 10 bucks at your local Wal Mart), that the police would have a very hard time chasing down the seller.