The Beltway Sniper speaks....

[Dr Mordrid]

After his/their killing of a bus driver early this morning the police announced a warning from a note the sniper had left near the restaurant shooting Saturday night;

"Your children are not safe anywhere at any time".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1002-2002Oct22.html

Wonderful.....

Needless to say the shools are in lockdown (no one in-no one out during class hours) with many districts closing for at least a couple of days.

Dr. Mordrid

[Byock]

Ok, this is getting out of hand. What kind of sick bastard would target children??

[Dr Mordrid]

He shot a 13 year old early on, so it looks like he's scaling himself up to terrorize parents even more.

As for what kind of sick bastard (I'd have said "sick F**K" myself) would target children? Dunno....maybe we should send a shrink to interview the members of Al Qaeda, Hammas and Hizbullah and find out

Dr. Mordrid

[Technoid]

And then he mayby kills or injure a kid whos fater is a navy seal or likewise and we will never ever hear from him again

[RichL]

There's vauge rumors of a demand for several million dollars, which doesnt sound very Al-quaeda like to me. Terrorist organisations of that ilk are more likely to demand release of prisoners. Or in Al-Quaeda's case, say nothing.

Turn out the army and let them hunt the SOB down. Some armed guards on the school runs and well placed counter-sniper teams ought to do the trick.

[Dr Mordrid]

He's already killed an FBI analyist.

Word is that the asking for a ransom of several millions of dollars is just to pull the cops collective chains.

I say he is what he does: a terrorist. The only debate is over his/their point of origin.

One point of interest in that regard is that the police are leaking that the 3 page note from Saturday night was written in what they are calling "broken English".

Hmmmm......

You can't turn the US Army loose in order to apprehend him/them because of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (ammended a few year ago to set up the rules & add other services to the restrictions);

"SEC. 15. From and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful to employ any part of the Army of the United States, as a posse comitatus, or otherwise, for the purpose of executing the laws, except in such cases and under such circumstances as such employment of said force may be expressly authorized by the Constitution or by act of Congress; and no money appropriated by this act shall be used to pay any of the expenses incurred in the employment of any troops in violation of this section And any person willfully violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding two years or by both such fine and imprisonment."

Uppance: FEDERAL military resources can only be used to support the local and federal resources, not replace them, and they cannot be used to perform arrests or apprehensions without a specific act of Congress permitting it.

This means the CIA spy planes flying over the Washington area are OK as long as FBI agents are on board and relay the information.

Now....if we were talking about a STATE that's another matter.

The States can call out the National Guard because they are under the command of the State Governors, but even then there are restrictions on what they can and cannot do.

Dr. Mordrid

[thop]

to be honest i wonder what the police, FBI etc. are doing the whole day. from what i heard some thousand policemen are hunting him.

[Dr Mordrid]

Over 500 Feds alone from what I'm hearing, but then you're talking about covering thousands of square miles.

Dr. Mordrid

[ZokesPro]

If we know this information, won't the "sniper" know about it too and attempt to seek refuge in another state? If I were being chased by a ton of feds I wouldn't stay put.

Edit: Had to delete that last post, it didn't fit with the rest of the thread.

[Dr Mordrid]

More tidbits:

Mystery caller;

The phone caller (presumably the sniper or an accomplice) disguised his voice for at least one call, and was characterized as having a heavy, indeterminate foreign accent, cable news reports said.

French connection;

The French defense ministry notified Interpol on Monday that a French army deserter and known marksman had gone missing while on vacation in North America.

Fox News learned Monday that the soldier, described as 25 years old and with the first name of Georges, went missing on Sept. 2 after making cash withdrawals on his credit card in the United States.

He had seen active duty as a peacekeeper in former Yugoslavia, and friends characterized him as a secretive, solitary type who had spent a previous vacation alone in the Corsican mountains.

Dr. Mordrid

[ZokesPro]

Interesting...what do you think about all this Dr.Mordrid? I'm interested in hearing your theory since you have, by far, the most information on this than myself.

[RichL]

So how many people have to die before congress makes an allowance in this situation?

You have a sniper who is either a Radical Islamic terrorist, a French army deserter, or a home grown nutjob, who has so far evaded capture and killed multiple times.
And a large area to cover.
And a big army that can always use a little extra training.

Chasing him (or even possibly a her) around afterwards doesnt seem to be working very well.

Reducing his available targets by having soldiers around, plus a few laying in wait at likely locations, plus chasing him around afterwards is going to be a lot more effective.

[Jessterw]

So far the FBI believes the sniper is either current, ex, or AWOL from some form of military service. The original thought was that the sniper was a marine, due to the events surrounding various Ft. Bragg personnel, however this theory has died off somewhat due to new evidence.

Whatever the case the sniper is familiar with the areas around where the shootings have occured, and this person is most definately a sharpshooter or marksman.

With that said I would definately not assume anything about this person, besides the fact that he/she is very dangerous. For that matter I wouldn't even limit it to one person.

[Helevitia]

I say we declare Marshal Law

Allow Marshal Law in the Washington/Virginia areas until somebody has a chance to slit the snipers throat or blow his brains out. Quick and Simple.

Dave

[thop]

hmm don't think it would help. to kill him you have to see him first. there is a 500.000$ reward on this guy with plenty of civilian hunters and noone saw him so far.