# Man taken into custody in Richmond. Did they catch the Sniper? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225 "2002-10-21T14:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/1 "2002-10-21T14:01:01Z")
Front page of [cnn.com](http://cnn.com) has a banner, it says details to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/2 "2002-10-21T14:06:59Z")
The Washington Post has this: “Police Surround White Van Near Richmond” With a ‘Breaking News’ trailer. No details. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/3 "2002-10-21T14:10:30Z")
The details are, unsurprisingly, not very informative yet. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/4 "2002-10-21T14:15:42Z")
As you might expect, the rumor mill here in Richmond is going crazy. If anything develops, I’ll see to it that it is posted. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/5 "2002-10-21T14:25:06Z")
I have what I know so far in my livejournal (user name Hamadryad, duh) but there’s not much out there yet. A light grey Dodge minivan with a luggage rack on the top. School was cancelled in the Richmond area today. Maryland made a statement saying basically “We are going to respond ot a message we have received”…but that’s it. This was less than three miles from my house so I’m a little bit interested and my ears are glued to the news. They’re saying at about 8:20 this morning, this guy made a phone call from a pay phone at this Exxon station, and a SWAT team swooped down on him. They towed the van about 5 minutes ago. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/6 "2002-10-21T14:54:46Z")
They have a second man in custody. ---
**Author:** ![Kakkerlak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bb73d2/32.png) [@Kakkerlak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakkerlak)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/7 "2002-10-21T19:39:49Z")
Can you tell the difference between a 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan (I saw it being towed away on CNN) and a GMC utility van or a Isuzu panel truck ? I sure the can, even at night or in the rain. They don’t have the sniper, they’ve got a couple of pranksters that are in way, way over their heads. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/8 "2002-10-21T19:44:53Z")
“Authorities have found no evidence connecting two men who were taken into custody today near Richmond, Virginia, to the sniper attacks, sources told CNN. Details soon” -[link](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/10/21/sniper.shootings/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-taken-into-custody-in-richmond-did-they-catch-the-sniper/133225/9 "2002-10-21T20:14:17Z")
No shortage of wild speculations. I’ve heard one person seriously assert that it “must” be the sniper, because the van was photographed near a phone booth. So the phone number referred to in last night’s police statement must have been that phone booth, and the police simply picked him up as he was on his way to chat with police. I’m really not ready to attribute such stupidity to someone who has managed to evade capture for this long… Offering my own wild speculation, I think that the culprit left a _joke_ phone number behind – something along the lines of “1-800-I-AM-A-GOD”, and investigators have acquired that number in the hopes that s/he’ll use it. Some journalists are suggesting that the mysterious number may be that of a pay-phone or a stolen cellular. I find that pretty hard to swallow… A complicated way to make contact, and one that would give a lot of advantage to investigators. I think it’s doubtful that the men in custody are connected to the killings, although I sincerely hope they are.