Free Republic

RICHMOND, Va. — Attorneys for John Allen Muhammad released a May 2008 letter on Wednesday in which the mastermind of the deadly 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area proclaims his innocence. The rambling, handwritten letter was made available because of requests for a statement from Muhammad, his attorneys wrote on the Web page of their law firm. The letter was filed in federal court in connection with Muhammad's unsuccessful attempt to block his execution, the attorneys said.

In court papers filed Tuesday, Muhammad's attorneys say the execution should be put off while the court considers whether his trial lawyer was ineffective.

Chalk up another bull's-eye for the Marine Corps. On Friday, Camp Pendleton is celebrating a big win over the Army, a traditional military rival. Shooters from the Southern California base's School of Infantry have returned home with the top prize in the ninth annual U.S. Army Sniper Competition that took place Oct. 14-22 at Fort Benning, Ga.

Jihadist John Allen Muhammad to be martyred next month. thelastcrusade.org The leader of the 2002 DC-area Islamic terrorist attacks will die by lethal injection next month, Virginia officials said Tuesday. John Allen Muhammad was reported to be furious when told that his 72 virgins had been replaced with fire and brimstone. Muhammad is scheduled to be executed Nov. 10 for the October 2002 slaying of Dean Harold Meyers at a Manassas gas station during a string of shootings. Muhammad's three-week Islamic-jihad in October 2002 left 10 dead in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Muhammad and his teenage...

The Marine Corps earned bragging rights during the 9th annual U.S. Army International Sniper Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., last week, when Leathernecks from the Corps' Scout Sniper School (West) in Camp Pendleton, Calif., claimed the title of top marksmen.

LAHORE, Pakistan — Teams of gunmen launched a deadly near-simultaneous attack on three law enforcement facilities in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, a major escalation in an audacious wave of terror strikes as this U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed country prepares for an offensive in a Taliban and Al Qaeda stronghold. At least seven people died in a gunfight with police at a federal building, 10 others were killed at a police academy, and a police constable was killed in an attack on a commando facility, officials said as the city plunged into chaos. In the Taliban-riddled northwest, meanwhile, a homicide...

Note: The following text is a quote: www.mnc-i.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE No. 20091011-05 October 11, 2009 Iraqi SWAT arrests 2006 sniper suspect Multi-National Corps-Iraq PAO RAMADI, Iraq - Elements of the Ramadi and Habbaniyah Iraq Special Weapons and Tactics teams, with U.S. Special Operations advisors, arrested an individual who is a suspect involved in multiple sniper shootings throughout Anbar Province Oct. 9 near Ramadi. The Magistrate Court of Ar Ramadi issued a warrant for Abd al-Qadir Afan Qafe’s arrest after his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of an Iraqi Army Soldier in 2006 and the shooting of a...

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Monday he can't think of any reason he would stop the execution of Washington, D.C.-area sniper John Allen Muhammad. Muhammad is scheduled to be executed Nov. 10 for the October 2002 killing spree that left 10 dead in the nation's capital, Virginia and Maryland. "I know of nothing in this case now that would suggest that there is any credible claim of innocence or that there was anything procedurally wrong with the prosecution," Kaine said on his monthly call-in radio show on WTOP. Kaine said he would review Muhammad's petition for clemency when he...

Court sets execution date for Washington, DC sniper mastermind A Virginia judge has ruled that the mastermind behind the 2002 sniper attacks in Washington, DC that left 10 people dead will be executed on November 10. John Allen Muhammad is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and ask Governor Timothy M. Kaine for clemency. Muhammad was sentenced to death for the slaying of Dean Meyers, one of 10 people shot to death during a 2002 rampage that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area. uhammad and teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo killed six people in Alabama and Louisiana before moving...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Virginia circuit court judge has set a Nov. 10 execution date for John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia is seeking a Nov. 9 execution for John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the deadly 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area. A prosecutor requested the execution date in a letter sent on Wednesday to Prince William Circuit Court in Manassas.

Here's a great 30 second video of an Oregon sharpshooter hitting the target at 327 yards. They shot the video 4 times, and he hit it every time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc99SiKqoJo

Two men arrested Friday night during a bizarre shooting spree along Interstate 5 in North Seattle may have been planning to fire at vehicles driving up and down the freeway, police said Sunday. “One theory is that maybe they were going to snipe at people as they were driving by on I-5,” Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Renee Witt told KOMO News

Only this Breaking News header on the King 5 news site, thus far: "Shooting - Rapid shots have been fired at North Seattle Community College in the Northgate area of Seattle; I-5 southbound near college has been shut down.

SAHL SINJAR, Iraq, Aug. 28, 2009 – Marine Corps snipers and designated marksmen have been operating across the vast Iraqi deserts since the outbreak of hostilities in 2003. As with all units operating in Iraq, past and present, they have found themselves evolving to meet the changing needs of the Iraqi military and political landscape. Small teams of snipers are finding reasons to venture into the constantly shifting environment that exists in a place referred to simply as “outside the wire.” “Working with previously gathered information, we gather additional intelligence and conduct operations watching over possible insurgent hot spots, caches...

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The FBI says it continues to get tips and follow leads in the unsolved Kanawha County gas station sniper-style shootings that left three dead six years ago Friday. John Hambrick, spokesperson for the FBI in Charleston, says the investigation continues to be a collaborative effort with all of the agencies initially involved in the "sniper task force." That team, made up of local, state, and federal agencies, used to have a common working office in downtown Charleston, but the space has since been vacated. The case is still considered "very active." VIDEO ARCHIVES 5 Years...

A British sniper killed a Taliban leader with the longest-ever fatal bullet shot in Afghanistan - from nearly TWO KILOMETRES away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds, 25, camped on the roof of a shop for three days as he waited for the perfect conditions to shoot the terrorist commander. He calculated the range, wind and trajectory before pulling the trigger - and the bullet flew 1,853 metres before hitting the target in the chest. The warlord, known as 'Mula', is thought to be responsible for co-ordinating several attacks against British and American troops since the outbreak of war in 2001. Cpl Reynolds,...

A British sniper killed a Taliban leader with the longest-ever fatal bullet shot in Afghanistan - from nearly TWO KILOMETRES away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds, 25, camped on the roof of a shop for three days as he waited for the perfect conditions to shoot the terrorist commander. He calculated the range, wind and trajectory before pulling the trigger - and the bullet flew 1,853 metres before hitting the target in the chest. The warlord, known as 'Mula', is thought to be responsible for co-ordinating several attacks against British and American troops since the outbreak of war in 2001. Cpl Reynolds,...

A SCOTTISH soldier has been praised for making the longest recorded kill in Afghanistan after shooting a top Taliban fighter from almost a mile away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds took out the Afghan drug lord during some of the hardest fighting of the war so far. The 25-year-old, of 3 Scots, The Black Watch, kept watch on a shop rooftop for three days to eliminate the target. But he admitted the top-level Taliban fighter – known as Musa – was so far away it took him a couple of attempts to get the aim right. Initially Musa, who was with four...

A Scottish soldier has been praised for making the longest recorded kill in Afghanistan after shooting a top Taliban fighter from almost a mile away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds took out the Afghan drug lord during some of the hardest fighting of the war so far. The 25-year-old, of 3 Scots, The Black Watch, kept watch on a shop rooftop for three days to eliminate the target. But he admitted the top-level Taliban fighter – known as Musa – was so far away it took him a couple of attempts to get the aim right.

April 30, 2009 Imagine being able to pinpoint an enemy shooter in difficult terrain with such deadly accuracy that you can see whether they are kneeling or standing and not only what kind of weapon they are firing but the caliber too. Well, engineers at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) have developed such a system by turning soldiers' combat helmets into "smart nodes" in a wireless sensor network. The ISIS location system ISIS has developed the technology with the support of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and Vanderbilt University has patented the system's key elements. The...

U.S. Army Tests Flying Robot Sniper The Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS) during testing. The gun turret is on the right side of the craft. (Pic in URL) It could be the best Xbox 360 game ever, and a real kick in the ARSS. The U.S. Army is testing the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS) — a remote-controlled unmanned Vigilante robot helicopter equipped with a high-velocity sniper rifle. Its RND Edge semi-automatic gun is mounted on a self-stabilizing turret with built-in zoom camera, and fires 7 to 10 precisely aimed .338-caliber rounds per second. Back on the ground, a human...

It could be the best Xbox 360 game ever, and a real kick in the ARSS. The U.S. Army is testing the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS) — a remote-controlled unmanned Vigilante robot helicopter equipped with a high-velocity sniper rifle. Its RND Edge semi-automatic gun is mounted on a self-stabilizing turret with built-in zoom camera, and fires 7 to 10 precisely aimed .338-caliber rounds per second. Back on the ground, a human directs it using a modified Xbox 360 controller, which plugs into a laptop so that the operator can see what the drone sees.

The U.S. Army is testing the Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System (ARSS) — a remote-controlled unmanned Vigilante robot helicopter equipped with a high-velocity sniper rifle. Its RND Edge semi-automatic gun is mounted on a self-stabilizing turret with built-in zoom camera, and fires 7 to 10 precisely aimed .338-caliber rounds per second. Back on the ground, a human directs it using a modified Xbox 360 controller, which plugs into a laptop so that the operator can see what the drone sees. "Having the ability to accurately engage single point man sized targets with an airborne UAV will give the ground based soldier...

Live camera shots of US snipers taking out Taliban with .50 caliber sniper rifles in Afghanistan. These are some examples of the fight in Afghanistan. These video shots are not made through the shooter’s telescopic sight… they are made looking through the spotter’s scope.The spotter lies right next to the sniper and helps the sniper to find and home in on the target. The sniper is using a 50 caliber rifle. A 50 cal. round is about 7-8 inches long and the casing is about an inch in diameter. The bullet itself is one-half inch in diameter and roughly one...

PHOENIX, Arizona (AFP) – A serial killer convicted of terrorizing Phoenix for over a year with a series of random drive-by shootings was on Friday sentenced to death, court officials said. Dale Hausner, 36, was found guilty earlier this month of six murders and 74 other offences during a deadly crime spree in this southwestern US city from May 2005 to June 2006. He was sentenced to death for each murder conviction. Earlier this week Hausner ordered his attorneys not to argue on behalf of his life. He also waived his right to present evidence about his life and background...

I wrote recently about the forcible citizen disarmament lobby's desire to ban .50 caliber rifles. In that piece, I pointed out that if such a ban were ever implemented, the gun prohibitionists would soon discover that a sniper limited to a .499 caliber rifle would not be seriously hampered by the loss of 1/1000th of an inch of bullet diameter, leading, no doubt, to calls for the banning of that caliber as well. Of course, a .498 caliber rifle would not really be noticeably less capable . . . etc. The disarmament lobby considers it bad form for gun rights...

"Jack Hinson never planned to become a deadly sniper. A prosperous and influential plantation owner in the 1850s, Hinson was devoted to raising his growing family and working his land. Though a slaveowner, Hinson was opposed to secession. But after a unit of Union occupation troops moved in on his land and summarily captured, executed, and placed the decapitated heads of his sons on his gateposts, Hinson abandoned his quiet life for one of revenge. . ."

Note: The following text is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE No. 20090118-07 Jan. 18, 2009 ISF captures suspected sniper team in northeast Baghdad Multi-National Division – Baghdad UR, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces thwarted an attack on a U.S. military patrol in northeast Baghdad Jan. 17. Elements of the 1st National Police Division, and 42nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division, worked together to detain a suspected sniper team that was targeting an American forces on patrol in the Haay Ur neighborhood of northeast Baghdad. “The actions of our ISF partners saved at least one, and probably several, U.S. Soldiers...

Senator Mike Crapo and Congressman Mike Simpson have taken their support of a local soldier to the next level. They're asking President Bush to pardon Sgt. Evan Vela. Vela was convicted in a general court martial in February for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian. Crapo and Simpson maintain Vela was following the order of a superior during the incident. In a news release issued Thursday Senator Crapo wrote, "The safety and success of our men and women in uniform would be seriously jeopardized if every service member was subjected to the same scrutiny for their actions during combat as in...

NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2008 – Army Sgt. Joel Dulashanti is, in his own words, “pretty much fully recovered” now, but the road to recovery was neither short nor easy. It did, however, provide him with a life lesson. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, presents a flag flown over Ground Zero in New York City to Army Sgt. Joel Dulashanti after a brief ceremony at the site for a group of wounded veterans. The ceremony was part of a United Service Organizations-Microsoft "Salute to Our Troops" weekend, Nov. 8, 2008. DoD photo by Samantha...

This is really incredible. H-S Precision is sells hunting and tactical rifles. Here is a scan from the back cover of their Catalog. Note who did the write-up (circled in yellow):For the three of you who don't know who Lon Horiuchi is, he's the FBI sniper of Ruby Ridge infamy who murdered Vicki Weaver in cold blood while she was holding her baby. I'm not sure what H-S was thinking when they decided to hire this despicable thug as a spokesperson, but they are in dire need of remedial correction for this deplorable business decision. No gun decent gun owner/buyer...

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated how critically important snipers are to a fight marked by urban canyons and high-mountain caves. Problem is, those highly-trained sharpshooters are in short supply, and the need for accurate, long-range fire has outpaced the services' ability to field one-shot killers. So both the Army and Marine Corps began a program to seed infantry squads with so-called "designated marksmen" -- call them "snipers-lite." The growing need to equip these new marksmen with accurized rifles prompted the Army to reconsider the role of the venerable M-14 rifle for the war on terror. Back in...

Yet another heavy sniper rifle is generating a lot of buzz. This one is the CheyTac LRRS (Long Range Rifle System). It looks like a .50 caliber (12.7mm) rifle, but is actually .408 (10.3mm). The .408 round resembles a scaled down .50 caliber, and this bullet is mainly for anti-personnel use (rather than the oft-quoted, but little used, "anti-material" use of the .50 caliber sniper rifles.) The .408 was developed in 2001, and is actually based on the older . 505 Gibbs and the .400 Taylor Magnum elephant guns. The .408 bullet is a new streamlined design that leaves it...

The Sun U.K. Reporter shot on live TV August 14, 2008 THIS is the dramatic moment a Georgian TV reporter is shot by a sniper on LIVE television. News girl Tamara Urushadze suddenly disappears from view in this live report on public television in Georgia. Gunshots are clearly heard in the background as the cameraman jumps out of the way. After scenes of panic and commotion, Urashadze reappears with her arm bleeding. Unbelievably she tries to continue her report as colleagues bandage her up. In the dramatic footage she says that her arm had been grazed by a sniper...

This is the dramatic moment a TV reporter was shot by a sniper as she reported live from war-torn Georgia. Tamara Urushadze took a bullet to her left arm in the flashpoint town of Gori as Russian forces continued their illegal occupation. Bravely, or foolishly, the 32-year-old brunette continued her report after a few moments as other journalists and aid workers dashed for cover.

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2008 – Looking through a rifle sight into the eyes of an enemy -- no matter how evil that enemy is or how many innocent people he has killed -- and then pulling the trigger to end that enemy’s existence affects a soldier. Army Sgt. Murray Spence (left), an infantry scout sniper originally from Canada, reads the serial number of his M-24 sniper rifle as Army Staff Sgt. Tommy Peek, Spence’s platoon sergeant from Fort Polk, La., verifies the number during an inventory at Forward Operating Base Loyalty, Iraq, July 8, 2008. Both soldiers are assigned...

He said, "Mom I want to join the Marines, please sign these papers,I am only 17." I said okay. 911 happened. Are you sure? "Yes please let me go, I know I have to go." I said okay. He was only 18. They said you young Marines will go to war and some will not come back. He said, "Don't worry; I have to fight for our country." I said okay. He was only 19. He marched up to Baghdad. Sand swirled all around, the heat was extreme, water was scarce, and sleep was little. Hungry, tired and dirty, he...

A British soldier told yesterday how he survived after a Taliban sniper’s bullet passed through his brain. Sergeant Alistair McKinney of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment said the bullet entered his head above his left eye, went through his brain and exited his skull above his right ear. Sgt McKinney, 36, was hit by sniper fire from hills as he patrolled the perimeter fence of his base at Musa Qala, Afghanistan in August 2005. He has no recollection of the shooting. He said: “The bullet smashed my forehead just above the left eye, went through part of my brain...

The first page of the Esquire article (read it all at the LINK)...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine sniper has been charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the June 2007 deaths of two civilians in Iraq. The sniper, Sgt. John Winnick II, faces additional accusations of aggravated assault against two other civilians and failing to adhere to the military's rules of engagement. The charges represent the fifth case involving alleged unlawful killings in Iraq to have been brought against Camp Pendleton Marines since the U.S. invasion in March 2003. A hearing for Winnick will take place at Camp Pendleton this summer to determine if the charges against him should stand. The...

Sagetech Corporation introduces UAV Sniper, a highly accurate unmanned combat air vehicle armed with a 50-caliber sniper weapon system. For the first time, the tactical targeting precision of a field sniper team will be available in an unmanned aerial platform. Employing long-range communication links, a mature system will be operable day and night from control stations thousands of miles distant, undetectably placing sniper shots with perfect confidence.

View our white paper on UAV Sniper (PDF file) Sagetech Corporation introduces UAV Sniper, a highly accurate unmanned combat air vehicle armed with a 50-caliber sniper weapon system. For the first time, the tactical targeting precision of a field sniper team will be available in an unmanned aerial platform. Employing long-range communication links, a mature system will be operable day and night from control stations thousands of miles distant, undetectably placing sniper shots with perfect confidence. The long range precision shooting skills of the military sniper team have found increasing utility in the urban combat environment of Iraq and sparsely...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond apologizes after a soldier admitted using the Quran for target practice. Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, apologized to leaders in Radhwaniya, in the western outskirts of Baghdad, for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment. He also read a letter of apology by the shooter. It was the first...

Video piece from Alyssa Carnahan about the conviction of her husband, Sgt. Evan Vela Carnahan.

Mildred Muhammad claims that she was a victim of domestic violence and that John Muhammad had planned an elaborate scheme to kill her, making it appear random by killing others at the same time.

Lawyers Argue Muhammad Had Mitigating Factors Jurors might not have sentenced convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad to death if they had known that he was abused as a child, that he has brain damage and that there were conflicting witness accounts to some of the shootings, Muhammad's appeals lawyers argued in court papers this week.

ABC News' Eloise Harper reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton continued her critique of Sen. Barack Obama's comments about small town America today, and used it to connect herself with the voters her opponent may have alienated. Speaking about how Americans value their Second Amendment rights and enjoy hunting prompted Clinton to tell a story about her own hunting experience. "You know my dad took me out behind the cottage my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl," she said. "You know some people have...

I recently received an email from Curtis Carnahan, the father of Sgt. Evan Vela, who, having served his country in Iraq is currently, and wrongly, serving a ten year sentence in prison. Mr. Carnahan asked me to look into his son's case because of the distinct parallels between his son's wartime dilemma in Iraq and that of the SEAL team in Afghanistan that was immortalized by former SEAL Marcus Luttrell in the best-selling book Lone Survivor. As Mr. Carnahan noted, I've written about the Luttrell case before in an attempt to call attention to the inverted morality of our Military's...