Sniper Search near Seattle (digging for evidence)

Local NBC News Channel | Oct 23, 02 | MSNBC

[FreedomPoster]

Good catch!

[spycatcher]

They mentioned last night the car was either blue or burgandy. Wonder if it was painted blue after the sighting?

[lelio]

Ah, Rita went over her story again and said that Malva was in the Econolodge across the street from the "phone booth" stop earlier in the week.

[OXENinFLA]

Any guesses on the DNA found in the hotel room?

Hair from the shower?

[kcvl]

FOX NEWS...

ROCKVILLE, Md. — At least two people are in police custody Thursday in what sources told Fox News could be a major break in the Beltway Sniper case, saying they may have a key person tied to the shootings.

Police sources told Fox News that members of the sniper task force arrested John Allen Muhammad, 42, and Lee Malvo, 17, who police had issued a lookout for Wednesday night. The two men were inside a car at a rest stop off I-70 in Federick County, Md., at 3:19 a.m., said Larry Scott, an agent for the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The men were taken into custody without incident, Scott said. A motorist and an attendant at the rest stop called police at 1 a.m. after they spotted the men inside one of the cars sought in the sniper investigation.

Police responded and took the men into custody. That car is a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey plates.

Sources told Fox News that they had received an earlier tip on Muhammad from a friend of his who said Muhammad had described one of the shootings to them in such detail that only the shooter could have known of what he said.

Hours earlier, police issued an arrest warrant for Muhammad, saying they believed he had information about the string of terrifying shootings that have left 10 people dead.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said the man should be considered "armed and dangerous" and that he was being sought on a federal weapons charge.

He also cautioned that the public should not assume Muhammad is involved in any of the shootings that have stricken the Washington area since Oct. 2 that have also left three people critically wounded.

Moose identified Muhammad as a 6-foot-1, 180-pound black male who also goes by the name John Allen Williams, and authorities released a photograph showing a clean-shaven man with closely cropped hair. He also said a juvenile may be accompanying Muhammad.

He did not identify the juvenile, but a law enforcement source identified him as Malvo.

A law enforcement source told The (Baltimore) Sun that police found a piece of paper at the scene of the Montgomery shooting that bore Malvo's fingerprints. Police then traced Malvo to a Tacoma house where he had been living with Williams, the paper said.

Moose also issued another direct message to the sniper:

"Let's talk directly. We have an answer for you about your option. We are waiting for you to contact us."

"You asked us to say 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.' We understand that hearing us say that is important to you," Moose said. "Let's talk directly. We have an answer for you about your option. We are waiting for you to contact us."

Muhammad's ex-wife, Mildred, was being questioned by the FBI Wednesday, said Adele Moses, who identified herself as the woman's sister. She said Mildred was living with her in Clinton, Md., southeast of Washington.

The Pierce County, Wash., sheriff's office said Muhammad was once stationed at Fort Lewis — an Army post south of Tacoma that provides some of the most intense sniper training in the military.

The FBI searched a back yard in Tacoma that they believe may be related to the probe Wednesday night.

Law enforcement sources told Fox News that search warrants related to the serial sniper case were served in various parts of the country Wednesday evening.

The sources said these multiple warrants included some in the D.C. area and at least one search warrant was executed in Marion, Ala.

The FBI searched a location near Marion, Ala., known as Camp Ground Zero USA — a place known to train militia groups. FBI sources told Fox News "they are not at liberty to comment" on the investigation and cannot confirm or deny their agents are investigating Camp Ground Zero USA.

Fox News reported Tuesday that a credit card is playing a crucial role in the investigation. Fox News has learned that the credit card apparently was taken following a liquor store robbery in Montgomery, Ala., on Sept. 21.

In that shooting, 52-year-old Claudine Parker was shot and killed. That credit card taken during the liquor store robbery is the same one that the serial sniper wanted officials to transfer $10 million to.

It now seems clear that the search warrants being run in Alabama are somehow connected to this leg of the investigation. We also know that this same stolen credit card was used recently in the Washington, D.C., area.

Montgomery, Ala., Mayor Bobby Bright said federal authorities were investigating whether the fatal shooting there last month was linked to the sniper. No one has yet been arrested after the one woman was killed and another wounded as they walked to their cars after locking up the store.

Bright said a caller to the sniper investigation tip line apparently claimed responsibility for the sniper shootings and the Montgomery shooting.

Moose, who is heading the sprawling investigation, expressed frustration at the failure to make contact despite the sniper's repeated attempts through "notes, indirect messages and calls to other jurisdictions."

Then he said: "The solution remains to call us and get a private toll-free number established just for you." If that happens, Moose said, "we can offer other means of addressing what you have asked us for."

The latest message believed to be from the killer was a letter found not far from where bus driver Conrad Johnson, 35, was shot Tuesday, two law enforcement sources told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The message reportedly demands $10 million — the same request sources say was made in a letter found at another shooting site Saturday.

In Tacoma, FBI agents spent hours at a rental home, eventually carting away a tree stump from the yard and other potential evidence in a U-Haul truck. The back yard was divided into grids by tape, and agents swept metal detectors back and forth in a painstaking search.

The agents, acting on information from the sniper task force, were seeking evidence related to ammunition, a senior law enforcement official in Washington said on condition of anonymity.

FBI spokeswoman Melissa Mallon said the property owner consented to the search, but she refused to say why agents were there.

"There's no immediate danger to anyone in this neighborhood," she said.

Pfc. Chris Waters, a Fort Lewis soldier who lives across the street from the home, said he called police after hearing gunshots in the neighborhood nearly every day in January.

"It sounded like a high-powered rifle such as an M-16," he said. "Never more than three shots at a time. Pow. Pow. Pow."

Dean Resop, who lives a block away, said quite a few tenants had been in and out of the home.

"Makes you want to watch your neighbors closer," said Resop, who has lived in the area seven years.

FBI agents also visited Bellingham High School, 90 miles north of Seattle, on Wednesday. Mayor Mark Asmundson told the Bellingham Herald the agents were apparently seeking information on a male teenager who once attended the school and an older man. He said both left the area about nine months ago.

[hmmmmm]

Perhaps it was a signal from Moose and company to the sniper that his identity was known... a gotcha, so to speak.

[lelio]

Why would he want to send off that signal though?

[blondee123]

Perhaps it was a signal from Moose and company to the sniper that his identity was known... a gotcha, so to speak.

If it was, then the sniper wouldn't have been sleeping in a rest area in the vicinity.

[lelio]

No one accused them of being brain surgeons though.

[hmmmmm]

Supreme confidence? I don't know. My suggestion was definitely a stretch but then we don't really know the whys behind any of Moose and Cos. actions in this. It struck me that they've avoided giving the public any information but yet it was, by all accounts so far, a member of the public who came across the wanted car. Given that, is it all far-fetched that Moose and Co. would offer up a gotcha?

[lelio]

Can't ... go ... on for .. .much longer ... getting tired. been here since the beginning.... not going to get to ... 3000.

[hmmmmm]

He'd been watching cable news along with the rest of us? :)

[lelio]

Oh forgot to post
Free The Stump!

[hmmmmm]

*L* seems appropriate since we were forced to watch the slow speed escape of the stump nappers.

[xJones]

Bullet-ridden mannequins were among the macabre images found an Camp Ground Zero, an alleged training camp for Islamic militants in Alabama that may have ties to al Qaeda. (ABCNEWS.com)

First, thanks to all you great night owls for this thread and others that I and who knows how many other FReepers will be frantically reading to catch up!

But it blows me away, a training ground for Muslim terrorist IN THE U.S??? Hell, they train pilots in our flight schools and snipers in Alabama camps! &#!@&!!!

[FreedomPoster]

Blue/burgandy could look similar in a low-light/twilight sighting.

[Clovis_Skeptic]

why did the sniper shoot so many black males these past few weeks?

Al-fuqra's goal is to "cleanse" Islam. They kill less conservative or radical muslims. So, race does not matter, even other muslims are on their list.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

"Daylight come and me stuck in a noose. "

Well, you sure got that right on the head!! yippeeeeeeeeeee!

[MissAmericanPie]

"Despite what the media says, these so called "right wing patriot" militia types would not be involved. These folk claim to love the country but hate the government, they would specifically go after government, not civilians. The Muslims, on the other hand, hate us all."

Maybe, maybe not, an awful lot of civilizians died at OKC. Tim McVeigh seemed to be using all types and groups of radicals as a means to an end. I'm trying to remember back to all that was said about that situation. Wasn't McVeigh placed at Elohiem (sp?) City, a right wing quasi militia camp? And wasn't he seen there and in downtown OKC with not only Arabs, but with the son of either German Chancelor Helmit Khole's son or the son of his Defense Minister? They all seem pretty cozy for such a varied group.

In one place there was a disgruntled ex-soldier, right wing militia, arabs, and germans all meeting up in Eloheim City, all with their own agendas. We won't know for certain for years most likely. As with the deliberately botched OKC investigation that focused only on McVeigh and not the larger picture, this investigation will focus on John Mohammad and not his associates and connections, in fact they will most likely deny there are any connections or associates.

[Michael2001]

For the same reasons, I doubt the McVeigh-Arab connection. Of course this is merely my opinion, and we may never know the whole truth.