The D.C. sniper attacks (also known as Beltway sniper attacks ) is a series of three-week coordinated shootings in October 2002, in the states of Maryland and Virginia, and the District of Columbia. 10 people were killed and three others seriously wounded, in Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas and along Interstate 95 in Virginia.
The snipers were John Allen Muhammad (age 41 at the time) and Lee Boyd Malvo (aged 17 years old at the time), who traveled with blue, 1990 Chevrolet Caprice sedan. Their crimes, which began in February 2002, feature murders and robberies in the states of Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and Washington, resulting in seven dead and seven wounded; in ten months, the snipers killed 17 people and wounded 10 others.
In September 2003, adult Muhammad was sentenced to death, and, in October, Malvo's adolescent sentenced him six times in a row without parole. On November 10, 2009, Muhammad was sentenced to death by a deadly shot, at the Greensville Destruction Center near Jarratt, Virginia.
In 2017, Malvo's conviction of life imprisonment without parole was canceled on appeal in Virginia, with a retrial ordered under the Supreme Court decision in the case of Miller v. Alabama (2012), which canceled the life sentence required for juvenile criminals as unconstitutional by law. Under retrial, Malvo's minimum sentence to prison will be determined by a judge; the maximum penalty available is life imprisonment. The verdict does not apply to six life sentences received by Malvo in Maryland.
Video D.C. sniper attacks
Preliminary shootings
On February 16, 2002, 21-year-old Keenya Cook was shot and killed by Lee Malvo at the front door of his aunt's house in Tacoma, Washington. Aunt Cook, Isa Nichols, befriends the ex-wife of John Allen Muhammad, Mildred and encourages her to divorce.
On March 19, 2002, Jerry Taylor, 60, was killed by a shot to a chest fired remotely as he practiced a chip shot on the Tucson, Arizona golf course. Sister Muhammad lived near the golf course and she visited her during the shoot. Two deaths and four injuries were followed in other countries from March to July 2002.
On August 1, 2002, John Gaeta, 51, replaced the tires in the parking lot in Hammond, Louisiana, and was shot in the neck by Malvo. The bullet came out through Gaeta's back, and he pretended to be dead while Malvo stole his wallet. Gaeta runs to the garage after the shooter leaves and finds that she is bleeding; he went to the hospital and was released within an hour. On March 1, 2010, he received a letter of apology from Malvo.
On 5 September 2002 at 10:30 pm, Paul LaRuffa, the 55-year-old pizzeria owner, was shot six times from close range while locking an Italian restaurant in Clinton, Maryland. LaRuffa survived the shooting, and his laptop computer was found in John Allen Muhammad's car when he and Malvo were arrested.
On September 21, 2002, at 12:15 pm, 41-year-old Million A. Jolda was shot dead in the head and returned with a.22 caliber pistol in Atlanta, Georgia. Woldemariam helps the owner of Sammy Package Shop closing for the night when the shooting occurred.
Nineteen hours later on the same day, Claudine Parker, a 52-year-old liquor store employee in Montgomery, Alabama, was shot and killed in a robbery. His co-worker, 24-year-old Kellie Adams, was injured but survived. The evidence found at the crime scene eventually binds this murder with Beltway attacks and allows the authorities to identify Muhammad and Malvo as suspects, although the relationship is not done until 17 October.
On September 23, 2002, at 6:30 am, 45-year-old Im Ballenger was shot in the head and killed by a Bushmaster gun in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Muhammad and Malvo were later linked to the murder.
Maps D.C. sniper attacks
Attack on the metropolitan area of ​​Washington, DC
Montgomery_County.2C_Maryland "> Montgomery County, Maryland
At 5:20 pm on October 2, 2002, a shot was fired through the window of a Michaels craft store on Aspen Hill. The bullet almost missed Ann Chapman, a cashier at the store. Since no one was hurt, no serious alarms appeared. However, about an hour later, at 6:30 pm, James Martin, a 55-year-old program analyst at NOAA, was shot and killed at 2201 Randolph Road in the parking lot of the Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery store, located in Wheaton..
On the morning of October 3, four people were shot dead within a span of about two hours on Aspen Hill and other nearby areas of Montgomery County. The others were killed that night in the Takoma neighborhood of the District of Columbia.
- At 7:41 am, James L. Buchanan, a 39-year-old garden styler known as "Sonny", was shot dead in Pale Rockville 11411 near Rockville, Maryland. Buchanan was shot while mowing at the Fitzgerald Auto Mall.
- At 8:12 am, 54-year-old taxi driver Prem Kumar Walekar died at Aspen Hill in Montgomery County, pumping gasoline into a taxi at a Mobil station on Aspen Hill Road and Connecticut Avenue.
- At 8:37, Sarah Ramos, a nanny and a 34-year-old housekeeper, was killed at 3701 Rossmoor Boulevard at Leisure World Shopping Center in Norbeck. He got off the bus and sat on a bench reading a book. At 09:58 am, in what would be the last killing in the morning, 25-year-old Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera was killed while vacuuming his Dodge Caravan at Shell station at the Connecticut junction and Knowles Street in Kensington, Maryland.
- The snipers then wait until 9:20. before firing Pascal Charlot, a 72-year-old retired carpenter, as he walked on Georgia Avenue on Kalmia Road, in Washington, D.C. Charlot died less than an hour later.
In each shooting, the victims were killed by one bullet fired from a certain distance and in each case, the assassins attacked and then disappeared. This pattern was not detected until after the shooting occurred on 3 October.
Fears quickly spread across the region as the news of the shootings spread. At a press conference, Police Chief for Montgomery County, MD, Charles Moose told parents that schools were on the blue code commemorative; keeping the children in the house and for a while the schools are safe. Many parents go to pick up their children at school early, not allowing them to take a school bus or walk home. Montgomery County Public Schools, District of Columbia Public Schools, and private schools go into lockdown, without recess or outer physical education classes. Other school districts in the area also take precautions, keeping students indoors.
The police only have some evidence to work; including an initial report that during the Silver Spring attack, someone reported seeing a white box truck. After the assassination in Washington D.C., the witness then began to inform the police that they had seen the blue Chevrolet Caprice instead of the white box truck. They also initially believed that all murders were committed using a.223 caliber rifle.
Virginia and other areas
At this point Malvo and Muhammad began to cover a wider area and took two or three days between shootings.
- On October 4, a 43-year-old housewife, Caroline Seawell was injured at 2:30 am. in the parking lot of another Michaels store at Spotsylvania Mall in Spotsylvania, when he was loading purchases into his minivan. At this point, hundreds of journalists gathered to cover the events that took place. School officials assured the public that they took every possible step to protect children: by tightening security and canceling all outdoor activities.
- On October 7, at 8:09 am, Iran Brown, a 13-year-old student, was shot in the stomach and badly injured when he arrived at Benjamin Tasker Secondary School at 4901 Collington Road in Bowie, Maryland, in Prince George's County (Brown's name was originally hidden from the public but later revealed). Her aunt, a nurse who had just taken her to school, rushed her to the hospital emergency room. Despite serious injuries, including damage to several major organs, Brown survived the attack and eventually testified at Muhammad's trial. At this crime scene, the authorities found a shell cover and a Tarot card (Death card) that reads the phrase, "Call me God" in front and, in three separate lines behind, "For You, Police." "Code: 'Call me God'." "Do not let go to the press."
- On October 9 at 8:18, 53-year-old civil engineer Dean Harold Meyers was shot dead while pumping petrol at a Sunoco gas station at 7203 Sudley Road in Prince William County, Virginia, near the city of Manassas. On the morning of October 11 at 9:30 am, 52-year-old Kenneth Bridges was shot dead while pumping fuel at an Exxon station on Interstate 95 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near Fredericksburg. On October 14, at 9:15 pm, a 47-year-old Linda Franklin (nÃÆ' Â © e Moore), an FBI intelligence analyst who is a resident of Arlington County, Virginia, was shot dead in a covered parking lot at Home Depot in Fairfax County, Virginia, just outside Falls Church at Seven Corners Shopping Center. The police accepted what appeared to be an excellent clue after the October 14 shooting, but it was later discovered that the witness was inside the Home Depot at the time and lied. The witness was later arrested for interfering with the investigation.
At this point, the gas station starts installing the tarpaulin to hide their customers (see Public reaction, below). Malvo and Muhammad did not fire again for five days.
On October 19 at 8:00, a 37-year-old Jeffrey Hopper was shot in a parking lot near Ponderosa Steakhouse on State Route 54 in Ashland, Virginia, about 90 miles (145 km) south of Washington, near Interstate 95. His wife Stephanie called passersby, who called the ambulance , allowing Hopper to withstand his wounds. Authorities found a four-page letter from a forest shooter demanding $ 10 million and making threats to children.
On October 21, the Richmond County police arrested two men, one with a white van, outside the gas station. The people turned out to be illegal immigrants with no connection to the shooters and they were held in custody of what was then an immigration and naturalization service, which deported them.
The next day, October 22, bus driver Conrad Johnson, 35, was shot at 05.56 while standing on his bus stairs on 14145 Grand Pre Road block in Aspen Hill, Maryland. Chief Moose released part of the contents of one of the shooters, in which he stated, "Your children are not safe, anywhere, anytime". Johnson later died of his injuries.
Although no shooting occurred on October 23, the day was significant for two events. First, ballistics experts confirmed Johnson as the 10th victim of the Beltway shooting. Second, on a page in Tacoma, Washington, police searched with metal detectors for bullets, bullet casings, or other evidence that might provide links to shooters. The tree stumps that are believed to have been used for target practice were confiscated.
Public reaction
With seven separate shooting casualties, including six deaths, within the first 15 hours of the D.C. spree, North American media immediately devoted enormous coverage to the shootings. In mid-October 2002, all news television networks provided live coverage after each attack, with coverage often going on for hours at a time. The Fox show America's Most Wanted devotes all episodes to the shooters in hopes of assisting in their capture. Much coverage of the case at The New York Times was written by Jayson Blair and later found to be made; the subsequent scandal caused the newspaper's two main editors, Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd, to resign.
During the weeks when the attacks occurred, the fear of seemingly random shootings caused much public fear, especially in service stations and parking lots of large stores. The people who pump gasoline at the gas station will walk in their cars quickly, hoping that they will be a more difficult target to hit. Some stations install a tarp around the tent above the fuel pump so people will feel safer. Also, many people will try to refuel their vehicles at the Naval Medical Center naval base in Bethesda, Maryland, as they feel it is safer inside a guarded fence. Government buildings such as the White House, the US House, and the Supreme Court building, and memorial attractions at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. also receive high security. During the attack, the United States Senate page received police escorts that were pushed to and from the United States Capitol every day and were not allowed to leave their residence hall for any reason except for work. Van truck drivers and white boxes were seen with suspicion from other drivers because initial media reports indicated the suspect might be driving such a vehicle.
After special threats to children are presented, many school groups limit field visits and outdoor athletic activities based on security issues. At the height of public fear, several school districts, such as Henrico County Public School and Hanover County Public School, after the Ponderosa shootings, closed the school for the day. Other schools such as MJBHA, canceled all outdoor activities after the shooting at the intersection of Connecticut and Bukit Aspen. Others change the after-school procedure for parents to pick up their children to minimize the amount of time children spend in the open. Extra police stationed in the school because of this fear. In addition to this, Joel Schumacher's
Investigation
The investigation was publicly led by the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) and its leader, Charles Moose. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), FBI, US Secret Service, Virginia Department of Transportation, and police departments in other jurisdictions where shootings occurred, providing assistance in the investigation.
The police responded within minutes to report a three-week attack on sniper attacks, circling the nearby streets and highways and checking all drivers, stopping traffic until it stopped for hours at a time. The police combed the area, talked to people, and collected surveillance records.
On Friday night, October 4, five shootings on October 3 and two on October 2 were forensically linked to the same weapon.
The eyewitness account of the attack was mostly confused and spotty. Hotlines prepared for investigation are flooded with tips. The initial tip of eyewitnesses included a report on a white-box truck with dark writing, which drove quickly from Leisure World shopping center, with two men in it. Police across the county and state of Maryland are attracting more white vans and trucks. A gray car was seen sped away after the October 4 shooting in Spotsylvania.
The shooter attempted to engage the police in the dialogue, forcing Moose to notify secret media messages aimed at snipers. In some scenes the Tarot card is left as a calling card, including one Death card that says "Call me God" on the front and back on three lines of separate words, "For You mr. "Code: 'Call me God'." "Do not give up on the press." This information is leaked to the press and misquoted frequently as "I am God" or some of the same mistakes from the actual words on the tarot cards. Later on, there are many handwritten notes carefully sealed in plastic bags, including rambling books demanding $ 10,000,000 and threatening the lives of children in the area.
The phone call from the shooter (s) was traced to a pay phone at a petrol station in Henrico County, Virginia. The police missed the suspects in just a few minutes, and initially held a passenger on a van on another pay phone at the same intersection.
On a phone call, the sniper, praising his intelligence, also mentions the unsolved murder earlier in "Montgomery". It was identified as a September 21 shooting at a liquor store in Montgomery, Alabama. On October 17 the authorities said they matched Malvo's fingerprints found on the Benjamin Tasker Secondary School site with one person lifted from a liquor store. After further research into Malvo's background, it is known that he has a close relationship with John Allen Muhammad.
Progress is difficult
Despite the apparent lack of progress in public, the federal government made significant advances in their investigations and developed prospects in the states of Washington, Alabama, and New Jersey. They learned that Mohammed's ex-boyfriend, who had obtained protection orders against him, lived near the Beltway Capital in Clinton, a community in the suburbs of Prince George's County, Maryland. Information was also developed about cars purchased in New Jersey by Muhammad.
Much to their surprise, the police found that the license plate of New Jersey issued to Muhammad in 1990 Chevrolet Caprice had been checked by a radio patrol car several times near the set of filming in various jurisdictions in some states, but the car had not been discontinued because the law of computer network enforcement was not indicating that it is connected to criminal activity and they focus exclusively on "white van."
On October 3, 2002, the police in Washington, D.C. stopped Caprice for a "minor traffic violation," two hours before the shooting of Pascal Charlot, after witnesses reported seeing Caprice near the scene.
On October 8, 2002, the Baltimore Police Department investigated a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice with someone sleeping in the parking lot near the Jones Falls Expressway in St. Louis. 28 in Baltimore. Officials fear that the driver's license comes from Washington state and the vehicle tag comes from New Jersey. Although the vehicle was suspicious enough for them to be investigated, and that corresponds to the description of the vehicle associated with the shooting in Washington, D.C. five days earlier, the officers had little to question the occupants, nor did they look for vehicles.
The authorities quickly issued a media warning to the public to look for a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice sedan. For the community, as well as for law enforcement agencies across the region, this is a major change from the mysterious "truck box" previously searched based on reported sightings.
Chevrolet Caprice was also later revealed to previously used as an undercover police car in Bordentown, New Jersey.
Capture
The crime ended at 3:15 am on October 24, 2002, when Muhammad and Malvo were found sleeping in their car, the blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice (which had been dismissed earlier in the investigation), at an Interstate 70 rest stop near Myersville, Maryland, and was arrested on federal weapons charges. The police got information from Whitney Donahue, who saw the parked car. (Four hours earlier, Montgomery County police chief Charles Moose has conveyed this secret message to snipers: "You have indicated that you want us to do and say certain things.You have asked us to say, 'We have caught snipers like duck in a snare. "We understand that hearing us say is important to you." Moose asks the media "to bring the message accurately and often." This mysterious and arguable reference to the Cherokee fable is never explained.)
First Class Troops D. Wayne Smith of Maryland State Police was the first to arrive at the scene and immediately used a blue-colored police vehicle to block the exit by positioning the car beside between two parked trailer tractors. As more troops arrive at the scene, the rest area is effectively closed at the entrance and exit ramps unexpectedly aware of the rapidly growing police presence. Later, when truck driver Ron Lantz tried to get out of the rest area, his tractors were attacked by troopers using the truck, in a police car, to complete the road blockade at the exit. With the suspect fleeing the suspect, SWAT officers then move to arrest them. The Bushmaster's.223-caliber rifle and stolen bipod were found in a purse in Muhammad's car. The ballistic test then conconnently connected the seized rifle to 11 of 14 shootings, including one in which no one was hurt.
Conclusion of investigation
Logistics and tactics
The attack was carried out using a semi-automatic XM-15 (AR-15 force) Bushmaster.223 caliber rifle equipped with effective EOTech holographic gun sight at a distance of up to 300 meters (984 feet), found in vehicles. The Chevrolet Caprice baggage has been modified to serve as a "rolling sniper's den". The rear seats are modified to allow one's access to the trunk. Once inside, the sniper can lie with a shot taken from a small hole near the plate made for that purpose.
Motive
Researchers and prosecutors suggested during the pre-trial hearing that Muhammad intended to kill his ex-wife, Mildred, who had kept him away from his children. According to this theory, other shootings are meant to mask the motive of evil, because Muhammad believed that the police would not focus on the suspected ex-husband if he looked like a random victim of a serial killer. Muhammad often visited the neighborhood where he lived during the attack, and several incidents occurred nearby. In addition, he previously made threats against him. Mildred himself makes a claim that he is the target he intended. However, Judge LeRoy Millette, Jr. preventing prosecutors from presenting the theory during the trial, saying that the relationship has not been established with certainty.
While in prison, Malvo wrote unclear criticisms of what he called "jihad" against the United States. "I have been accused in my mission, God knows I will suffer now," he wrote. Since the rants and drawings not only feature characters such as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, but also the characters of the The Matrix film series, these musings are considered immaterial. Several investigators have reportedly said they have all eliminated terrorist ties or political ideologies as motives. However, at least in one of the murder trials that followed, a court in Virginia found Muhammad guilty of murder "in accordance with the direction or command" of terrorism.
In the 2006 hearing of Muhammad, Malvo testified that the purpose of the murder was to kidnap children with the aim of extorting money from the government and to "establish a camp to train children how to terrorize cities", with the main objective being to "shut things down" at all over the United States.
Aftermath
Criminal prosecution
Virginia Trial
Prior to the trial, Moose Chief was involved in a publication tour for his book on sniper investigations, including appearances on NBC's Dateline, The Today Show, and The Tonight Show. > Assistant Attorney William William Commonwealth Commonwealth James Willett told The Washington Post, "Personally, I do not understand why someone who is in law enforcement throughout his life will potentially damage our case or compromise with the jury by doing this. "
A change of request for a venue by defense lawyers was given, and the first experiment was held in the independent towns of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach in southeastern Virginia, over 100 miles (160 km) from the alleged nearest attack (in Ashland, Virginia).
During their trial in the fall of 2003, involving two victims in Virginia, Muhammad and Malvo were each found guilty of murder and arms allegations. The jury in Muhammad's case advised him to be sentenced to death, while Malvo's jury recommended a life sentence in prison without parole rather than a death sentence. The judges agreed in both cases. Alabama law enforcement officials alleged that snipers were involved in a series of previously unrelated attacks before 2 October in Montgomery, Alabama. Other allegations are also pending in Maryland and other communities in Virginia.
After initial conviction and punishment, Will Jarvis, Assistant Prince William County prosecutor, said he would wait to decide whether to try Malvo on capital charges in his jurisdiction until the US Supreme Court decides whether teenagers can be subjected to execution. While the decision was in an unrelated case pending before the high court, in October 2004, under an agreement of recognition, Malvo pleaded guilty in another case in Spotsylvania County, to another murder to avoid possible death penalty, and agreed to an additional prison sentence lifetime without parole. Malvo has not faced trial in Prince William County.
In March 2005, the Supreme Court ruled at Roper v. Simmons that the Eighth Amendment prohibits execution for a crime committed under the age of 18. In view of this Supreme Court decision, prosecutors in Prince William County decided not to pursue charges against Malvo. Prosecutors in Maryland, Louisiana, and Alabama are still interested in bringing Malvo and Muhammad to court. Since Malvo was 17 when he committed a crime, he could no longer face the death penalty but could still be extradited to Alabama, Louisiana, and other countries for prosecution. At the time of the decision Roper v. Simmons , Malvo is 20 years old and detained in the Red Shot State Prison on Pound in Wise County.
"Muhammad, with his fugitive rider team, Malvo, randomly selects innocent victims," ​​said Supreme Court Justice Virginia Donald Lemons in the decision. "With calculations, extensive planning, cruel preparation and abandonment for life, Muhammad runs his cruel terror scheme."
The death penalty of Muhammad was confirmed by Virginia Supreme Court on April 22, 2005, when he decided that he could be sentenced to death because the murder was part of an act of terrorism. This line of thought is based on handwritten records demanding $ 10 million. The court rejected an argument by defense lawyers that Muhammad could not be put to death because he was not the trigger for the murders associated with him and Malvo.
On September 16, circuit court judge Mary Grace O'Brien set the date of execution by lethal injection for November 10, 2009. His lawyer petitioned the US Supreme Court to continue executing the death penalty, but was denied. They also asked for clemency from Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, but this was rejected as well. The execution began shortly after 9 pm. on November 10, and she was declared dead at 9:11 pm.
Maryland trials
In May 2005, Virginia and Maryland announced that they had reached an agreement to allow Maryland to continue its demands there, where most shootings took place. There are media reports that Malvo and his legal team are willing to negotiate his cooperation, and he releases the extradition to Maryland.
Muhammad and his legal team responded by fighting extradition to Maryland. The legal team of Muhammad ultimately did not succeed, and extradition was ordered by Virginia judge in August 2005.
Maryland agreed to transfer Muhammad and Malvo back to the Commonwealth of Virginia after their trials. The date for the execution of Muhammad in Virginia has been set for November 10, 2009.
Malvo pleaded guilty to six murders and pleaded guilty to others in another country when interviewed in Maryland and testified against Muhammad. Malvo was sentenced to six consecutive days of life without the possibility of parole, but in 2017 his sentence in Virginia was canceled upon appeal.
On May 30, 2006, a Maryland jury found John Allen Muhammad guilty of six counts of murder in Maryland. In return, he was sentenced to six consecutive days without any possibility of parole on June 1, 2006.
On May 6, 2008, it was revealed that Muhammad had asked the prosecutor in a letter to help him end the legal appeal for his conviction and the death penalty "so you can kill this innocent black man." The appeal filed by defense lawyer Muhammad in April 2008 cited evidence of brain damage that might make Muhammad incompetent to make legal decisions, and that he should not be allowed to represent himself in the Virginia trial.
Malvo Testimonial
In John Allen Muhammad's May 2006 trial in Montgomery County, Maryland, Lee Boyd Malvo took a stand and confessed to 17 murders. He also gave a more detailed version of the couple's plans. Malvo, after extensive psychological counseling, admitted that he was lying in an earlier Virginia court where he claimed to be the trigger for every shooting. Malvo claims that he has said this to protect Muhammad from possible death penalty, and therefore more difficult to get the death penalty for minors. Malvo says that he wants to do what he can for the victims' families by letting the complete story be told. Within two days of his testimony, Malvo elaborated on the detailed aspects of all the shootings.
Part of his testimony relates to Muhammad's complete multiphase plan. The plan consists of three phases in the Washington metro area, D.C. and Baltimore. Phase one consists of careful planning, mapping, and practicing their location around the D.C. In this way after each shoot, they will be able to quickly leave the area on a predetermined path, and move to the next location. Muhammad's goal in Phase One was to kill six whites a day for 30 days. Malvo goes on to describe how Phase One does not go as planned because of heavy traffic and lack of shots or clear vacations on site.
Stage Two is intended to take place in Baltimore, Maryland. Malvo illustrates how this phase is almost implemented, but not done. Stage Two is meant to start by killing a pregnant woman by shooting her in the stomach. The next step is to shoot and kill a Baltimore police officer. Then, at the officers' cemetery, they planned to blow up some homemade explosives complete with shrapnel. These explosives are meant to kill a large number of police, as many police will attend the funeral of another officer.
The last phase is lasting for or soon after Phase Two, which extorted several million dollars from the United States government. This money will be used to finance a larger plan, to travel north to Canada. Along the way, they will stop at the YMCA and the orphanage recruit youngsters who are easily influenced without parents or guidance. Muhammad thought he could act as their father figure as he did with Malvo.
Once he recruited a large number of young boys and went to Canada, he would start their training. Malvo illustrates how John Muhammad intended to train a boy with a weapon and secretly as taught him. Finally, after their training is over, John Allen Muhammad will send them to the United States to do mass shootings in many other cities, as he did in Washington and Baltimore. These attacks will be coordinated and intended to send the country into the mess that has been built after 9/11.
Civil and regulatory actions
According to The Seattle Times in the story of April 20, 2003, Muhammad has honed his shooting skills in the Bull's Eye arena. The newspaper also reported that Malvo told investigators that he was shoplabbing a 35-inch (89 cm) carbine from a "supposedly safe store."
According to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) officials, the shop and its owners have a long history of gun sales and records of records and files as thick as 283 pages. In July 2003, ATF revoked federal firearms license Brian Borgelt, a former Staff Sergeant with US Army Rangers and owner of the Shooter Bull Eye Supply. Later that month he transferred ownership of the store to a friend and continued to own the building and operated an adjacent firing gallery.
On January 16, 2003, the Law Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Pistol Violence, on behalf of the families of many victims of sniper attacks both inside and outside the murdered DC areas (including Hong Im Ballenger, "Sonny" Buchanan, Jr., Linda Franklin, Conrad Johnson, Sarah Ramos and James L. Premkumar Walekar) and two survivors of the shooting (Rupinder "Benny" Oberoi and 13-year-old Iranian Brown) filed suit against Bull's Eye Shooter Supply and Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. from Windham, Maine, the distributor and weapon maker who made the rifles used in crime spree, as well as Borgelt, Muhammad, and Malvo. Muhammad, who has a record of domestic battery criminals, and Malvo, minors, are each legally banned from buying firearms.
The lawsuit claims that the Shooter Supply Bull's Eye runs its weapon shop in Tacoma, Washington, "in a way that is so inattentive that some of its weapons routinely" disappear "from his shop and keep such ugly records that can not explain about the Bushmaster gun used in shooting sniper when asked by a federal agent for arms sales records. "It was alleged that the dealer could not account for the hundreds of weapons received from the factory in the years before the Beltway sniper attack. He also claimed that Bull's Eye continued to sell weapons in the same irresponsible manner even after Muhammad and Malvo were caught and found to have acquired weapons there. Bushmaster was included in the lawsuit for allegedly continuing to sell weapons to Bull's Eye as a dealer despite the awareness of his record-keeping violations.
This case was heard in April 2005; but the parties remained before that. The Bushmaster said it ended because of rising legal costs and reduced amounts of insurance money he left for the case. Bull's Eye contributed $ 2 million and the Bushmaster donated $ 500,000 to an out-of-court settlement. The Bushmaster also agreed to educate his dealers about safer business practices.
After the settlement was announced, WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., reported that Sonia Wills, mother of Conrad Johnson survivor, said her family took part in more lawsuits to send messages rather than raise money. "I think a message has been submitted that you should be held accountable and responsible for the actions of irresponsible people when you make these weapons and put them in their hands," he said.
Execution of John Allen Muhammad
In the days leading up to his execution, John Allen Muhammad spent time with his lawyer making his last appeal to the Supreme Court. It was reported that the two had become close friends, with Muhammad telling his lawyer, "I love you, brother," and gave him permission to write a book about the trial.
Muhammad was executed with a deadly injection at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia on November 10, 2009. The execution procedure began at 09:00 local time. EST; Muhammad was declared dead five minutes later. It was reported that when asked if he had the last words, Muhammad did not reply. Twenty-seven people, including members of the victim's family, witnessed his execution.
In popular culture
Movies and TV
- Legal & amp; Order aired an episode titled Sheltered released May 14, 2003, according to IMDb Internet Movie Database; and shows elements that correlate with the case of a DC sniper attack.
- Sniper attacks and subsequent investigations are documented in the 7 season episode of Forensic Files entitled "The Sniper Trail", aired July 12, 2003.
- On October 17, 2003, US TV stations on the USA Network showed D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear , a television movie based on sniper attacks 2002.
- During the fall of 2007, BET showed off a documentary about the Beltway sniper in the series of American Gangster .
- In June 2008, Barbara Kopple released her documentary The D.C. Sniper Wife , which tells the story through the eyes of Mildred Muhammad, the wife of John Allen Muhammad. Mildred will appear on CNN's Larry King Live on November 9, the day before her ex-husband's execution.
- Episode Serial... , TLC show about serial killer, also includes shootings.
- The 2009 movie, D.C. Sniper , directed by Ulli Lommel, based on the attack.
- On January 3, 2011, Canadian actor William Shatner spoke at length with three survivors of the sniper shoot - Paul LaRuffa, Kellie Adams, and Caroline Seawell - on The Biography Channel's Aftermath with William Shatner .
- The 2013 movie Blue Caprice , also known as The Washington Snipers in some areas, is based on attack, with a great focus on father-son relationships between Muhammad and Malvo.
- The attack was mentioned in Richard Castle's "Castle" on the TV show by S4E9 "Kill Shot"
- On July 22, 2015, an episode of the Lifetime Movie Network Monster in my Family featured a meeting of Mildred Muhammad with a victim who was later wounded along with the deceased family member, with Lee Malvo also appearing on the episode while in jail.
- In the The Cleveland Show episode, the main character makes a reference that says "Why can not you be more like D.C. Sniper's son?".
Publications
- In 2003, former Montgomery County police chief Charles Moose, the chief official in charge of the Beltway sniper attack, was published Three Weeks in October .
See also
- 2003 West Virginia sniper
- 2003 Ohio highway sniper attack
- Virginia Tech Shooting
- The Metcalf sniper attack of 2013
- 2015 Phoenix expressway design
- Manhunt (law enforcement)
- Manhunt (military)
- Serial Shooter
- Unmarked police car
References
External links
- "Snipers continue to cause fear in the region". Sheet . October 17, 2002. Archived from the original on November 22, 2002. Ã,
- Shot interactive map, in Washington Post
- D.C. Sniper: Ten Years Later, at The Baltimore Sun
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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