Sniper attacks in Washington

[Azat]

CHRONOLOGY-Sniper killing spree in Washington area

 

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In Washington story headlined "Sniper killing spree in Washington area" ... please read in first paragraph... "shot dead in Aspen Hill, Maryland"... instead of "Rockville, Maryland" (corrects town).

 

A corrected version follows:

 

WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Police confirmed on Wednesday that a bus driver shot dead in Aspen Hill, Maryland, was the 10th person to die at the hands of a sniper in the U.S. capital region.

 

A shooting spree that began on Oct. 2 has paralyzed the suburban neighborhoods around Washington. Four women, eight men and a teen-age boy have been shot, seemingly at random.

 

Each person was hit with a single bullet fired from a high velocity rifle in public places, all but three of them in broad daylight. The gunman has threatened further attacks.

 

Following are details of the shootings released by police:

 

WEDNESDAY OCT. 2

 

5:20 p.m. - Bullet shot through front window of a craft store in Montgomery County, a Maryland suburb just north of Washington. No one injured.

 

6 p.m. - James Martin, 55, a program analyst buying groceries for his church, is shot and killed in the parking lot of a supermarket in Wheaton, Md, about a mile (1.6 km) from first shooting.

 

THURSDAY OCT. 3

 

7:40 a.m. - James "Sonny" Buchanan, 39, is shot in the chest and dies as he mows a lawn near a shopping mall in Rockville, Maryland.

 

8:10 a.m. - Premkumar Walekar, 54, an Indian-born taxi driver, is shot and killed as he fills his car at an Aspen Hill, Maryland, gas station within a mile (1.6 km) of the earlier shooting.

 

8:40 a.m. - Sarah Ramos, 34, of El Salvador who worked as a housekeeper, is shot in the head while sitting on a bench outside a Montgomery County post office. Witness sees a white truck speeding from the scene.

 

10 a.m. - Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25, a nanny from Idaho, is killed with a single bullet as she vacuums her van at a Kensington, Maryland, gas station.

 

9:20 p.m. - Pascal Charlot, 72, a retired carpenter who immigrated from Haiti, is shot dead near a bus stop in northern Washington.

 

FRIDAY OCT. 4

 

2:30 p.m. - Sniper shoots a 43-year-old woman in the back as she loads shopping bags into her car outside a craft store in Fredericksburg, Virginia, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Washington. The woman, who was not identified by police, survives the attack and is taken to the hospital.

 

MONDAY OCT. 7

 

8:10 a.m. - A 13-year-old boy is shot in the chest as he walks into his suburban Maryland school moments after leaving his aunt's car. The boy, whose name is not made public, undergoes hours of surgery and survives.

 

A Tarot "death" card is found in woods next to the school, with the words "Dear Policeman, I am God" written on it. Police sources say a bullet casing is also found in the woods.

 

WEDNESDAY OCT. 9

 

8:20 p.m. - Dean Harold Meyers, 53, a civil engineer from Gaithersburg, Maryland, is fatally shot in the head at a gas station in Manassas, Virginia, about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Washington. Police say a white van is seen leaving the scene.

 

FRIDAY OCT. 11

 

9:30 a.m. - Kenneth Bridges, 53, of Philadelphia is shot and killed as he fills his car at a gasoline station near the I-95 highway in Fredericksburg, Virginia, about 40 miles (65 km) south of the capital.

 

MONDAY OCT. 14

 

9:15 p.m. - Sniper shoots dead Linda Franklin, a 47-year-old FBI intelligence analyst, in the parking lot of a store in Falls Church, Virginia, 7 miles (11 km) from Washington. The victim, an intelligence analyst not involved with the sniper investigation, is loading shopping bags into her car with her husband when she is shot in the head.

 

SATURDAY, OCT. 19

 

8 p.m. - A 37-year-old man is shot in the stomach as he and his wife leave a steakhouse in Ashland, Virginia, near the I-95 highway north of the Virginia capital, Richmond, and about 80 miles (130 km) south of Washington. The victim, who is not identified, is critically wounded.

 

Investigators find a written message at the scene and appeal to the sniper to contact them. Later, police ask the suspect to call them back, saying an earlier conversation was marred by a bad connection.

 

TUESDAY, OCT. 22

 

6 a.m. - Bus driver Conrad Johnson, 35, is shot aboard his commuter bus in Silver Spring, Maryland, and dies later in the hospital. The shooting is close to the first killings.

 

Police release a written warning from the sniper, which reads: "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time."

[Azat]

2 comments.

1. Why are people so sick? What drives them to kill innocent people for no reason? Do they get some kind of a kick out of this?

 

2. Is this such a HUGE thing that every single news story in the US starts with this story? I do not mean to sound insensitive to the families of people who have been killed, but I feel like the media once again is making a Big deal out of this. They seem to be sensationalizing this now. What is going to be next? For those who feel that this does deserve all the publicity, I like to remind you that last year this time we had all the Anthrax threats and deaths and no one was ever caught with that crime, so why is that not such major news anymore?

[Sip]

Here's what fascinates me about this ... suppose you are at home. Suppose the sniper is going to shoot you at the coffee house. It is far far far more likely that you will die on your way driving to the coffee house, than to get shot by this bozo!

 

I just don't understand this hysteria Assuming he is shooting at random, the chances of a given person being shot by this guy is almost ZERO. People are so worried and scared about nothing.

 

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Edit: Azat, forgot to say that I fully agree with both your comments.

 

[ October 23, 2002, 07:27 PM: Message edited by: Sip ]

[THOTH]

Yeah - agree to all of the above. Somehow though my suggestion of printing t-shirts with a target on them (& f-you sniper!) didn't generate much laughter the other day...and I couldn't convince a collegue to sit outside on the sidewalk area of a restaraunt for lunch the other day...(and it was still warm enough to do so) - he insisted on eating inside (and so did everyone else in the entire area as far as I could tell)

 

Sure its all (way, way) overblown - but a certain amount of anxiety is understandable...

 

I will be spending a good deal of my day tomorrow in (or very close to) the very areas mentioned...I weave in and out of nearly all the areas "affected" and it hasn't changed my routine one bit. My kids are all ancey because school keeps them inside though - so even though its colder now - I've made sure to play outside with them.

 

BTW Sip - just what will you do for a RB this week? LOL (my picking up Zeroe had nothing to do with you though...I picked him up in 2 leagues...and I need a [decent/dependable] fill in runner as well. I just noticed that you don't have much back-up...

[Sip]

Do'h! I haven't thought about football at all. I have to give a talk tomorrow about a project, and hope that I won't embarrass myself (trying to assemble slides and demos frantically). I'll worry about the RBs after that! But thanks for the head's up

 

It's amazing how you realize you really don't know something, only when you try to explain it to others! When you are explaining things to yourself, things make so much more sense sometimes (in your head)