Gentlemen:
We are receiving a number of inquiries wanting our “take” on the sniper events in and around Washington DC. We decided to answer in a bulletin rather than continue individually. FC.
A) The attacks are well planned, enough to allow for execution and escape, and the first grouping of attacks laid the ground work for “terrorizing” the public even with fewer victims following. It also capitalizes on the “response” or “reaction” mode of law enforcement, who may not have seen a pattern developing early on enough to realize what was going on, and try to get ahead of it in some fashion.
B) There is no “random” crime. The shooter has chosen the method, chosen the area, chosen the type of victim, and chosen all the other aspects of the crime. It may be correct to call it “Indiscriminate” insofar as who the victims were, or will be, but these attacks are hardly “random”.
1) The weapon used is not an “assault” weapon, such as the leftists have been trying to strip from Americans over the past several years. It is also not a “high powered” rifle: it is from a high velocity weapon which was designed to inflict maximum damage at a distance; the theory being that a .223 round would cause many injuries which would drain the support resources of an enemy rather than cause a greater number of fatalities. It takes more resources to care for wounded than it does to bury dead.
2) Most Police agencies who employ snipers, either use a 308 or a 223 calibre weapon. The 308 is the big “killer” bullet used for taking someone out with massive trauma, the 223 is used more “surgically” for a more highly defined target area ie: brain stem or heart. (And they are usually bolt action, single shot rifles.)
3) Reports, rumors, and suspicions are out, trying to link the shooter to some militia organization somehow, which conflicts with the first reports out, of looking for “two Hispanic or at least non-white” suspects. Not many persons fitting that description make it into the anti-government, survivalist or white supremacy type militias. Sounds like another Louie Freeh stupid statement.
4) The race of the victims has not been described in any detail, we therefore conclude they must be white at least to some degree. There appears to be no connection to federal jobs, which would again let out some “anti-government militia” motivation.
5) Is it terrorism? Absolutely. Although whose brand of terrorism has yet to surface. Look at the panic and the resources pulled into this effort:. Forgive the expression, but the shooter is getting maximum bang for the buck (and is probably into the operation so far, only the cost of a couple tanks of gas, and a few dollars in ammunition.) Given the fact that it has gained constant national media attention, it is working to terrorize not only the DC Metro area, but the nation as well.
6) The child was most likely shot due to the public announcements over the weekend that the schools would not be effected by this rampage and would remain “open” and on normal schedules. Our guess is that the shooter saw this as a challenge, and “solved” that challenge the first thing the following school morning.
7) Serial Killer? Thrill Killer? Possible, but not probable. Not “up close and personal” enough. The sick bastard(s) want to personally terrorize their victims, and literally see them die right in front of them. Here we are talking possibly hundreds of yards away. A scope might provide the same “closeness” to the shooter, so that is a variable. The victims are not consistent in their “grouping": not all men, all women or all children, no apparent passion to kill a particular type or category of person.
8) The shooter has only completely missed once that we are aware of. Maybe the craft store shot was first time out and the shooter was not sighted in for the distance he was going for. Past that, we understand that the shooter is 8 for 8 hits, 6 fatalities. Even with a scope, that takes some measure of experience and proficiency, given the reported distances and distance related problems. Also note that the shooter does not apparently even feel the need for a second round. That lets out SOP for “gangs”, since they are lazy, sloppy shooters for the most part and simply throw up a lot of rounds hoping to hit something.
The only “caution” we provide here is that it isn’t out of the realm of possibility for someone doing the “Helter Skelter” thing, trying to “start the war” by making it look like “the other side” is pulling this off.
Since the physical description(s) have not been clear, this is the work of an individual, two individuals, or a group. This also draws resources in, which could be the groundwork (intel) for later following up with a secondary attack, a common MO for trained terrorists.
Best guess here at the moment, given the information available, is that this person is not killing for personal reasons, but rather “sending a message”. Men, women, children, young and old, loading groceries, gassing up the car, mowing the lawn, going to school, shopping for craft supplies: sometimes the most obvious, is the correct answer.
As we receive additional information, we’ll pass that on to you, meanwhile here’s a line from one of you which came in a few minutes ago - we think it’s classic.......” What is especially concerning is that their “experts” are clued out.”
We also received a very intelligent sniper-focused email from one of you in Intelligence, which says in part:
Hello, There is a precise methodology to interdicting a sniper. Civilian law enforcement won’t have it, and never should. Media can’t fabricate it.
The art of count sniper is not a shell game, its an art form more in line with chess. I’ve seen some of the information on this east coast sniper issue. The last headline the media put out was just hilarious as another example of media and law enforcement mindsets. “Sniper may be challenging Police”. The police are probably of little-to-no plan. At best probably just a variable, to relative, to windage.
What time of day has each shot occurred? What directions has the shooter selected to fire? Were all targets static or moving at time of trigger pull? What are the estimated ranges of the shots? Were all targets below or on the shooter’s elevation?
These are just some of the essential questions that need answering. Most, if not all of these are already known.
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