Police have only guessed it may be a .223 caliber weapon but moreso that the shots are taken at very long range by a very skilled shooter. This makes it less likely the shooter is using a military type assault weapon but rather a more ordinary hunting, target or varminting rifle. The bullets are extremely small, 22 caliber, and but have very high velocity. It makes the crime no less serious but loaded terms like “high powered assault rifle” only add to misinformation and confusion.
Small? The bullets I saw were pretty freakin’ huge…
I’m not sure what you may have seen or what your basis for comparison is. Obviously a wound from a .223 is extremely devastating to a human but the caliber is extremely small as rifle calibers go. In fact .223 is illegal for deer hunting in most states because it isn’t powerful enough.
… I’m going to stop here as anything further may cause the mods to move it to GD.
This is simply unnerving. Some reports mention that it’s a two man team- a driver and a shooter. However, this is uncomfirmed. Two murders in DC overnight may have a connection, although nothing has been proven yet at this time.
Yeah, two of the murders occured in Silver Springs. And, going on a tangent here, but you work for the software company? The one that made Morrowind? Just curious.
The cartridge is large. The bullets are small.
I heard the bullet described as a sort of mushrooming bullet - it hits you and causes a lot of extra damage because it mushrooms out once it pierces you.
I’m not trying to stir up any sort of debate - just saying that the bullets I saw on CNN (which were certainly not the bullets, but rather a possibility) were pretty big, a little longer than my index finger.
On preview, I see carnivorousplant’s post. That explains it - I probably just saw the cartridge.
As I was coming home from work , I stopped off at the liquor store. I was behind and to the side of two white Isuzu panel trucks for nearly twenty minutes.
On the way home, I was going through an intersection with one of the two vans when someone blew a tire. Pedestrians ducked and covered, and two people swerved into each other in front of me.
This makes Sri Lanka (where I’m going to be stationed next year) look tame. Only a twenty-year civil war and 35000 landmines there. Should be tame by comparison.
I’m surprised that Fox or MSNBC hasn’t blamed this on Grand Theft Auto 3 or video games in general yet.
I work right in the area where these shooting occured. It was downright scary walking the 1/4 mile from my workplace to the metro station yesterday after dark…I ended up running most of it, and drove to work today to avoid walking. It’s quite unnerving, to say the least, and it could be any car (or even a pedestrian), not just the white van being sought.
It has apparently been confirmed- the sniper(s) killed a sixth person, the elderly man in DC.
It could be seven deaths now, but nothing definite. 
Latest word is they’re questioning an extremist right-wing White Power Aryan militia member about this case.
33-year-old white male from Montgomery County. ATF issued a bulletin for him. He is now in custody in Fairfax, VA.
Imagine just going about your day, and then BAM! You die without any warning at all. Damn, I hope they catch the people soon. My dad asked me if I’d heard about this, and thinks the perpetrators should be cut into a million pieces…
F_X
That’s a lot of pieces, Flami. What with the various budget cutbacks and the state of the economy, I think we’re more likely to get about half a million.
Two would do the trick.
If you pick 'em right.