Not to be completely irreverent but this type of thing always intrigues me. I know I am not the only one out there. If I were, then I would expect to see less TV coverage.
Ok. Now for the game thing. Let’s make the criminals profile.
What we know:
He’s a sniper (using a rifle from a distance).
He was likely working with another.
He was driving a white SUV.
He shoots during rush hour.
There doesn’t appear to be a connection between the victems.
He obviously isn’t OJ simpson even though it points to him (ie, spree killer, white SUV, low speed chase, etc).
Ok, seriously, I think he is a spree killer. He is probably white because I think that fits the profile of both serial killers and spree killers (I believe that is true anyway, I don’t have a cite). He is probably a native Marylander (he seems to know the area well enough to get away). I would also say that he has a small circle of friends but only one close friend (the driver?).
Now how he sets up his crimes. He commits them during rush hour and does 2-3 per rush hour. I think this is completely preplanned. I believe this aids him in the escape. He divides the police and gets enough investigators at a few different locations to make it easier for him to get away.
Oh, for those that don’t know, the two new shootings took place this morning in Bowie. One in front of a Walmart and another (a child) in front of his Middle School.
There doesn’t appear to be a connection between the victims.
Probably military training.
On the news they are showing secluded places where the sniper would have likely holed himself up to escape without notice. Personally I don’t think that is what he is doing exactly. I think that he is sitting around in the relative open but not doing any shooting until no one that can positively ID him is around. It is just my feeling.
It reminds me of that old Grishom (not sure if that is who it was) movie where the guy plans on killing the president. He was an Ex-CIA assassin and made a plastic gun. I can’t remember the name.
I’d probably react the same way if it happened at my kid’s school, but it seems to me, pulling them out immediately after the shooting is the wrong reaction. Chances of the shooter returning must be mighty small.
And I hate to say this, but I wonder when copy-cat shootings will start…
It was my understanding that all the shots were from 200 yards or less - many of them MUCH less - hardly “long distance” or “sniper” shots. A competent shooter, sure - not some inner city kid who’s never held a rifle before - but nothing most hunters or recreational rifle shooters couldn’t do.
They only closed the one school (where it happened) because it’s an active crime scene, and because so many parents were coming to get their kids anyway. All the other schools in Prince George’s County are on “Code Blue” status. I think that means they can’t go outside for gym class or recess. I’m not sure of the terminology; we don’t use it where I live.
I’m in Baltimore County and even up here, the kids are on a sort of “lockdown,” where all outside activites are canceled, meaning no outside recess, no outside gym classes, no after-school sports practices, no outside lunch.
Baltimore City and some other counties in the area have even canceled afternoon Kindergarten classes.
Seems a little excessive considering how far we are from PG County, but I guess better safe than sorry.
[Worried Parent]
My daughter usually walks home, but I think I’ll go pick her up today.
[/Worried Parent]
I doubt that there is more than one person, it just doesn’t match the spree killer pattern. And my gut tells me the white truck lead is wrong, I saw one just this morning driving like an asshole, and I’m in Minnesota. There was a shooting, and a person reported a white truck driving like an asshole. To me, it seems like that just may be a coincedence.
From other spree killers, it’s an easy bet that he’s white, in his twenties, with little or no post high school education. I shoot at bowling pins from 200 yards, and I’ve never had any training, so military training isn’t a must.
We don’t know it’s a “he” but that’s a reasonable guess as I’m sure far less women kill with rifles. There is no physical reason it could n ot be a woman but I’d wager the professional profilers aren’t looking for women suspects very hard.
Creating profiles is a bit like playing the odds, ya look at past patterns, and try to extrapolate them into the current situation. The odds of it being a ‘she’ are probably less than 5% (WAG). A possibility, but not a great one.
Nurse Carmen, we don’t know for sure if it is one person either; however, the eyewitnesses have mentioned there being 2 people when they ID’ed the van.
We also don’t know if it is a man, but that is a pretty safe bet since a vast majority of spree and serial killers are male.
Isn’t it funny how people automatically try to distance themselves from a tragedy?
Baltimore is but a short drive from PG and Montgomery County. The person(s) who are committing these murders could be almost anywhere in the country (or out) by now.
5:20 pm Wednesday - window shot out of store - no injuries
6:04 pm Wednesday - Montgomery County
7:41 am Thursday - Montgomery County
8:12 am Thursday - Montgomery County
8:37 am Thursday - Montgomery County
9:58 am Thursday - Montgomery County
9:20 pm Thursday - DC
2:30 pm Friday - Virginia
[Armchair Detective]
I definitely think this is a spree killer. I would love to know how they figured out this person was traveling in a white box truck. I wouldn’t limit my search to these types of trucks because it would be absurdly easy for the killer to abandon that vehicle and use another.
Pretty much all they’d need is to be stopped at a traffic light, sitting in the back seat of an SUV with darkly tinted windows, roll the window down a little and pick somebody off. They’d be long gone before anyone notices. With a calm driver and shooter no one would have any cause to even look twice at the vehicle.
[/armchair cop]
I think this person is getting a kick out of the media coverage and will definitely continue the shootings. I toyed with the thought that they may try and make this a regional or nationwide thing, but the more I think about it, I think it is probably someone who hasn’t traveled much and would be more confident/comfortable staying in the Metro Washington area.
I’m very worried about my daughter’s father. He services computer hardware in this area and is constantly out and about all day long. I’ve been trying to make sure he fills up his tank before leaving home (lives in southern md) and only gets out of his car when entering a customer site.
dorkus, I think the story you’re looking for is In the Line of Fire - I’m recalling the movie with John Malkovich whose character fashioned a plastic weapon. Didn’t know it was a book, though.
I can kind of write off my fear of this now, but when something like this happens NEAR to you, well, I’m afraid I’d be scared to leave the house.
I hope this thing gets figured out and stopped NOW.