[justlurking]

I would like to know from someone knowledgeable in firearms whether from available evidence of the type of weapon used whether such weapon can be broken down and, if so, how rapidly?

There are semi-auto rifles chambered in .223 with collapsible stocks. Depending on the length of the barrel, it could be concealed easily.

However, I have a suspicion that the shooter is using a standard bolt-action rifle that does not eject the spent brass. Unless the police are withholding the info, there's been only one instance where the spent brass has been recovered. However, I'm not sure that's been conclusively linked to the shooter.

Either the shooter is not ejecting the brass or he is recovering it. If he is shooting from these wooded areas, he would have to delay his escape and search for it in the dark. Or, he could be shooting from inside a vehicle.

If the weapon used can be easily concealed after the shooting, I think there may be a reasonable probability that the shooter may be staying in vicinity as a motel which would validate the theory that shooter merely waits for a white van getting ready to move.

I've been suspecting that the shooter has a support network that provides him a safe haven nearby. He can lay low for a few days and then depart without being challenged.

I think the white van hypothesis is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the shooter ever used one, he most certainly is not doing so now. But, there are so many of them on the road, the probability of one randomly being in the immediate vicinity of a shooting is nearly 100%.

[tomkat]

my #111 applies to your #107 as well !

[monocle]

I am reluctant to ascribe these shootings to organized terror because human nature is such that once such a conclusion is reached all evidence pointing to some other than an organized terrorist will be rejected with the obvious result being a delayed capture. As things now stand almost all witnesses a seeing a white van - a conditioned response. The same is true for the issue of a "safe house". These shootings have all be sufficiently geographically separated as make a safe house available at a distance short enough to avoid being stopped at a roadblock. I would not be surprised if the shooter actually stayed at the scene of the shooting and causally walked to a nearby motel, like an arsonist staying around to watch his handiwork.