Tacoma synagogue shooting linked to sniper suspects?

Seatlle P-I/AP

[BurbankKarl]

Monday, October 28, 2002

Tacoma synagogue shooting linked to sniper suspects?

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Evidence from a recent shooting incident at a Tacoma synagogue has been sent to a state crime laboratory to determine if there is any connection with sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, officials said Monday.

State Patrol spokesman Capt. Glenn Kramer said the evidence, which he declined to identify, was sent to a State Patrol crime lab in Marysville.

Kramer said he had no additional details, and that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was the lead investigating agency.

Martha Tebbenkamp, an ATF spokeswoman in Seattle, confirmed that the agency was investigating an incident at a Tacoma synagogue, but said she had not been provided any details.

She could not say if the incident was a shooting and could not say if any people were injured or if it was a case of vandalism.

"It's an ongoing investigation and I can't talk about it," Tebbenkamp said. "No one has given me details."

Jim Mattheis, a spokesman for the Tacoma Police Department, also declined to provide details.

A woman who answered the telephone at Temple Beth El, Tacoma's only synagogue, also declined comment, saying an announcement would be made later in the day. She would not give her name.

Muhammad was in the Army at Fort Lewis starting in 1985 and lived in Tacoma off and on after he was honorably discharged from the Army in 1994.

Numerous law enforcement agencies around the state are checking into unsolved cases, seeking a possible connection to Muhammad.

This is the second case law enforcement officials have said is under specific review to determine whether Muhammad may have been involved.

Evidence from a February homicide in Tacoma also has been sent to a state crime lab, Kramer said.

Tacoma Police are investigating whether the unsolved slaying of Keenya Cook, 21, on Feb. 16. Cook was shot in the face when she opened the door to the house where she lived.

Mattheis has said Cook's family recognized Muhammad from news photos after his arrest in the sniper cases and called authorities.

Cook's aunt, Isa Nichols, used to be a bookkeeper for Muhammad's auto repair business in the 1990s. Nichols became friends with Muhammad and his then-wife Mildred, and sided with Mildred during that couple's bitter divorce and child-custody dispute.

Cook had moved into Nichols' home in the fall of 2001 for protection from an abusive boyfriend. Members of Cook's family are now wondering if Isa Nichols was the intended target and that Cook was shot by mistake when she opened the door.

Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, have been charged with numerous murders in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. in the last month. The three-week string of attacks left 10 dead and three others wounded in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

[BurbankKarl]

oh yes...also, when I was searching to see if this info was already posted, I came across this from last June....


Thieves Break Into Tacoma INS Office

Posted by 11B3
On 06/04/2002 1:26 PM PDT with 17 comments

MSNBC ^ | 4 Jun 02 | CHRIS MCGANN
A weekend break-in at the Tacoma office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service not only breached agency security, it also left several important items in unknown hands. Stolen were a .40-caliber pistol and two clips of ammunition; at least five INS stamps, including an admission stamp and another that allows refugees to enter the United States to apply for resident alien status; an INS badge; a laptop computer; and an assortment of official forms. That's a big problem, said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., when you consider the tremendous harm inflicted on the United States by people who entered and...

[NativeNewYorker]

Tacoma's only synagogue

They have a sense of humor.

Their website.

[Arkinsaw]

I remember that one! You have a good memory and might be on to something there. This guy claimed he was a people smuggler.

[spycatcher]

Who Funded Sniper Suspect Muhammad?

[eno_]

Is it a hate-crime yet?

Is it Islamist terror yet?

Is it associated with buggery of a minor yet?

Or is it just an Angry White Guy with a really deep tan?

[swarthyguy]

Excellent research.

[swarthyguy]

Are you in this area? Munchies for thought....

[Marine Inspector]

I'm in Arizona.

[Betty Jo]

If he was screwing Malvo, he must be bi, not just gay.

He has been married twice and has kids and an "illegitimate"son.

Also, I see a laptop was stolen.

Is this the laptop that the snipers were using in the Caprice as they were shooting Americans?

Would the laptop have valuable stuff in it?

[swarthyguy]

Maybe you have some friends in Tacoma....interesting info...
Sorry about that, some reason i thought you were in the NW.

[GretchenEE]

Does anyone have any info on why these two, who were familiar with the Puget Sound region, went to the East Coast to shoot people at random?

[Spunky]

Thieves Break Into Tacoma INS Office

When I was reading a thread yesterday this incident immediately came to my mind and I wondered if there could be any connection between them.

See excerpt and link to thread.

News from August : 250 passports disappear from Toronto
Pakistan news ^ | 2002-08-08 14:24:31 | unknown
Posted on 10/27/2002 2:08 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
250 passports disappear from Toronto

VANCOUVER, August 08 (PNS): Canadian authorities are concerned over the disappearance of more than 250 passports from a regional passport office in the Toronto area, fearing they might end up in the hands of terrorists.

Stolen Passports

[Spunky]

Does anyone have any info on why these two, who were familiar with the Puget Sound region, went to the East Coast to shoot people at random?

I was wondering that same thing.

[Sicvee]

The theory is that he was going to shoot his ex wife who lived in Maryland with the kids. The other shootings would make it look like a random thing, not traceable to him. I think I read that in the Tacoma paper.

[bobsacamano]

They just broke in on CNN and said he has been linked.

[bobsacamano]

Apologies.... Foxnews(Greta got me confused - New Face/Old Face, I should know the difference) not CNN.

[spycatcher]

CONFIRMED: Muhammad linked to synagogue shooting according to Fox News

Looks more and more like we're dealing with The Radical Islamic Mind

[MarMema]

How well I recall that break-in...

[MarMema]

northwest ping

[concerned about politics]

Looks more and more like we're dealing with The Radical Islamic Mind

And I'll bet the reason he wasn't caught much earlier has to do with racial profiling. They couldn't say "Black man" or "Muslim connections". No one had any idea what the suspect looked like or who they should be looking for. The discription wasn't allowed. It was too un-pc.
"Just look for errrr.....well....well....someone who shoots people. Be on the look out!"

[concerned about politics]

least five INS stamps, including an admission stamp and another that allows refugees to enter the United States to apply for resident alien status; an INS badge; a laptop computer; and an assortment of official forms.

The scary part? Who has this stuff now?

[Libertina]

Have been to this temple for a contra dance. Beautiful old place.

[HairOfTheDog]

What the heck was up with Greta in that interview with the guy from the mission in Bellingham just now?

She asked direct foundation-type questions for five minutes while he talked about how nice Muhammed was at first... background filler info....

Then she asks whether he ever said anything about weapons or violence. He says no... nothing about violence.

Then he says the kids were taken by CPS and he bagan to feel suspicious that they'd been lied to...

And Greta asked "Is that when you contacted the FBI?" ANSWER (paraphrasing best I can) "~No, not then... We called the FBI because seemed to have more money than he should have, and he traveled a lot, which is not typcial of someone living at a mission, and got suspicious, not just me, other staff too. We started to think he was a threat to America."

Greta: "Thank you very much.... Next on...."

WHAT? - No follow up question to a statement like that, after five minutes of him being a nice polite guy?

[spycatcher]

Moose should be sent to Canada where he may be more comfortable roaming around cluelessly

[spycatcher]

That was the worst interview of that guy yet. Greta missed the entire point of the story!

[Libertina]

Hi M! Are you going to go to the KVI Face Off? If so, we are meeting at he Pantages on Saturday.

[Spunky]

How well I recall that break-in...

MarMema, can you find a link to an article that would have been written at the time this occured so we know if someone was killed or not.

This article above sure isn't giving any details.

From article above.

Martha Tebbenkamp, an ATF spokeswoman in Seattle, confirmed that the agency was investigating an incident at a Tacoma synagogue, but said she had not been provided any details. She could not say if the incident was a shooting and could not say if any people were injured or if it was a case of vandalism. "It's an ongoing investigation and I can't talk about it," Tebbenkamp said. "No one has given me details."

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah... I have seen him interviewed before too..

Talk about choking on the punch line. MSNBC did better.

[Mixer]

Further evidence?

[HairOfTheDog]

Boy - O'Reilly is hot tonight.

Just ripped up the INS...

And then said "Next... The Nation of Islam, that anti-American group Muhammad belonged to... " On after the break.

[spycatcher]

thanks for the heads up

[HairOfTheDog]

Guest... Vibert White, Phd... former Nation of Islam Minister and author of a book highly critical of Farrakahn:

Barnes & Noble.com - Inside the Nation of Islam: A Historical and Personal Testimony of a Black Muslim

[concerned about politics]

Boy - O'Reilly is hot tonight.

Yep. He railed the guy.
"The INS is the 'victim'."
Yeh, sure they are. Barf! The guy tried to shift the blame.

How about tax dollars going to support welfare drug addicts with their drugs? Hold on to your pocket book. Paying for their coke and heroin is going to be expensive! Isn't that just the sweetest idea? ARG!

[Sacajaweau]

Just two dumb shmucks, huh??

More like minds and operations of terrorists...

Why aren't they thinking passport dealings for "more terrorists" coming in from the islands?

[Chad Fairbanks]

Does anyone have any info on why these two, who were familiar with the Puget Sound region, went to the East Coast to shoot people at random?

Because here in the Puget Sound region, we prefer our killers to be polite, and that they take care of their business in private...

[Eva]

I believe that was a whole stack of forms, the ones that require the stamps that were also stolen. This is most likely connected to Mohammed.

[cherry]

I have mentioned this on another thread but if I were the police in Seattle I would see if the shooting of Tom Wales, the anti-gun prosecutor , who was killed by gunshot thru his window at home....I would see if Mohammed had any connection to it....

the killing has always been thought of having been done by an AWM and gun-toting white supremist.....but that would be modis operandi for MO...

I think when all is said and done, a lot of crime will be attributed to MO and his boyfriend.....

[Chad Fairbanks]

I wouldn't be surprised... this cat was free to do a lot long before the recent killings...

[Abar]

This is only the tip of the local iceberg.

The local marexist politicos refuse to acknowledge the danger and the seriousness of the threat. Instead, they give "tolerance is our strength" and "islam is a religion of peace" speeches.

The local newspaper regularly gives coverage to islamic terror front 'face-men'.

Islam is a death cult. The sooner we are rid of them the better.

No arabs, no muslims - no terror.

[montag813]

NOTHING TO SEE HERE. NO CONNECTION TO ISLAMIC TERRORISM WHATSOEVER. HE IS JUST A LONE ANGRY WHITE MAN WHO JUST HAPPENED NOT TO BE WHITE OR ALONE. OTHERWISE IT FITS ALL OF THE STANDARD PROFILES. DO NOT PANIC. DO NOT SINGLE OUT BLACK MUSLIMS. THERE IS NO DOMESTIC MULSIM THREAT! MOVE ALONG!!!

[Abar]

I think Viki Mardis' murder should be looked at.

[XHogPilot]

INS Break-in included theft of a lap-top computer? So, I wonder if the laptop seen in Mohamed's posession by the police officer mid October was this one. A real stab in the dark, except for Mohamed's connection with people smuggling.
Any latent fingerprints in that INS break-in?

[spycatcher]

Why aren't they thinking passport dealings for "more terrorists" coming in from the islands?

Exactly.

[jiggyboy]

I'm too lazy to rummage around for a link, but there was a nasty divorce and his wife moved to MD a few months ago.

[jiggyboy]

You'll still be able to make good bar bets against the major media replacing the "Gulf War Veteran" stuff with "Islamic terrorism on a small scale".

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

The snipers are muslims. They're professed terrorist-lovers who celebrate Sept. 11th. They went on a random killing spree. They were "dirt poor" yet flashed thousands of dollars. They travelled extensively by air, and took calls from travel agents while frequenting homeless shelters and soup kitchens. They carried multiple IDs. They had computers, 2-way radios, and a GPS unit while living in their car. Their car was rigged specifically to accommodate a prone sniper.

But they're not terrorists. /sarcasm