October 5, 2002

5:00 AM

Washington, D.C. Killing Linked To At Least Three Of The Montgomery County, Maryland ShootingsThe ballistics tests reported last night established the connection between the District shooting [Thursday night]and three of the Thursday morning attacks in Montgomery. and in the same story: Man Tied to Militia Groups Sought for Questioning, N.C. Police Say . . . The Raleigh News & Observer said a bulletin from the ATF said the man had once lived in North Carolina and had been affiliated with militia and white supremacist groups. I can't find out why the authorities want to talk to this man, just that he isn't a "suspect" yet, but is wanted for questioning.
posted by Corky (15 comments total)

let's just hope it's a couple of whackos and not some coordinated militia terrorist plot.
posted by donkeyschlong at 5:36 AM on October 5, 2002

Someone must have it in his head that it's time to thin the herd.
posted by crunchland at 6:29 AM on October 5, 2002

Here's the link for the News Observer article.
posted by Stuart_R at 7:31 AM on October 5, 2002

Why do I feel like this is terrorism related?

Assault rifles, one shot kills, lacks the "serial killer" brutality we're used to (when discussing those kinds of murders), seemingly random victims....

It even reminds me (a little bit) of what was going on in the Balkans a few years back.
posted by dopamine at 7:38 AM on October 5, 2002

It reminds me of a 16 year old girl who didn't like mondays...

In 1979 Brenda Spencer, a 16 year old San Carlos resident fired a volley of bullets from her house toward the Cleveland Elementary School playground, killing 2 and wounding 9. While the police had the house surrounded, a reporter phoned her and she told him: "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day."

The 80s band the Boomtown Rats wrote the song "I don't like Mondays" about this incident.

[article]
posted by Stuart_R at 7:49 AM on October 5, 2002

Fucking martinets.
posted by dhartung at 8:59 AM on October 5, 2002

"..one of the victims was vacuuming her minivan at a Shell gas station in Kensington; one was pumping gas at a Mobil station in Aspen Hill; one was in the parking lot of a grocery store in Glenmont; one was pushing a lawn mower near Rockville Pike; and one was sitting on a bench.."

God please don't take me like that.
posted by daHIFI at 9:16 AM on October 5, 2002

How to improve this post, should have included a link about profiling. Maybe a link about militias in North Carolina, maybe a link about American terrorists, or serial killers, and maybe you ask the question is he a terrorist, or a serial killer, and is a serial killer a terrorist?

Hopefully this helps salvage this thread. Before we smack we must teach.
posted by jbou at 10:07 AM on October 5, 2002

He's a serial killer. He could also be a terrorist (Atta and friends were mass murderers and terrorists). I don't think a serial killer is always a terrorist, since more often than not they're not looking to coerce anyone into anything, they're just killing for the sake of killing (with a few exceptions, where the killing was secondary to other urges). I hope they catch him, or he kills himself, soon.

(This is eerily reminiscent of the 1968 Peter Bogdanovich film called Targets, loosely based on the Charles Whitman case, in which a man who feels ignored and abandoned by society takes revenge by randomly killing people with a sniper rifle.)
posted by biscotti at 10:17 AM on October 5, 2002

God please don't take me like that.

Well, I can think of a million worse ways to die. It would be really quick and relatively painless. But I sure would hate to die when I'm mowing the lawn...that would bite.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 10:35 AM on October 5, 2002

God please don't take me like that.

There's one easy way to prevent that. Stop mowing your lawn and vacuuming your car. Personally, I've stopped bathing as well, as I wouldn't want to be shot whilst naked. Think of the embarassment!
posted by fatbobsmith at 1:17 PM on October 5, 2002

Well, if it's definitely linked to the shooting the night before, my theory is blown out of the water. Namely: if you fire up a power mower at 7:30am, someone is liable to shoot you. Possibly me. But, I guess the 'power-mower-early-in-the-morning-setting-off-killing-spree-theory' will have to be retired.
posted by umberto at 4:52 PM on October 5, 2002

Eventually the person(s) will brag. It is someone who's very skilled and smart proably has a big ego to match. Theres no way this person can not resist telling someone somewhere sometime and then its all over.
posted by stbalbach at 7:39 PM on October 5, 2002

There was also a shooting in Spotsylvania, VA, (near Fredericksburg) in the parking lot of a Micheals Craft Store.

Woman wounded outside mall store.

Followup on story.
posted by SuzySmith at 10:11 PM on October 5, 2002

dopamine: Just a minor nit pick, but there isn't evidence yet to suggest that it was an assault rifle. While .223 is commonly used in AR's (though it is referred to as 5.56 mm in military weapons), it's also very popular in many different non-military firearms.
posted by quin at 10:20 PM on October 5, 2002