[continuing hijack]
Not pointless, but yes, partisan. It was actually an attempt at subtle humour, but apparently offensive to you.
But you found nothing offensive about the term “whiteboy”. Curious.
[/ending hijack]
I have to agree with this one… I grew up in the country (well almost country… somewhat urban)… I would frequently visit my grandparents’ farm… I was roughly 12 or 13 years old, it was time for the passage into man-hood, and my grandfather taught me how to shoot. By the time I was 15 or so I could put every round in the 10x ring at 200 yards, at 400 yards almost every round hit a standard rifle target, most rounds hit 8x or better (the occasional hiccup/etc would throw a round off its mark)… if a 15 year old with practice a few times a year could do that, anyone could. (for those who don’t know, a standard rifle target would easily fit on the average person’s chest)
disclaimer: I was firing a bolt action .22-250 (over 5200 feet/sec leaving the barrel), with a 5x to 12x variable scope, on a bench rest… not what this sniper is using, but I bet (s)he practices a lot more than I ever did, and those weapons have similar behaviors.
discloser the second: I don’t know what advancements have been made in modern rifles, I haven’t used a firearm in 9 or 10 years…
although I agree with those that say “this is a trained guy that slipped over the edge”, I will not discount the possibility of some mentally screwed up teenager/random-person. Just because the average person (including teens) doesn’t have adequate rifle training to make those shots, doesn’t mean there aren’t teenagers/etc that could have easily made any of those shots… I guess it comes down to, “we don’t really know anything yet”
my money is on the geographic profiling that is going on now for finding the psycho… see also:
for more info on geographic profiling.
not exactly. A serial killer selects victims based on certain criteria. A spree killer kills indiscriminately, killing the nearest available victim. There has been no real pattern discernable in the Snipers selection of victims, so s/he is not a serial killer.
I believe it was meant that the the person would be able to kill 6 people each time they went out… not just one person at a time like this one is happening.
My roomie (ex-military) says he feels it is someone with training. Yes it is possible that it could be a teen or someone with minimal training, but if it were would they seriously be able to plan it this well? IE They have chosen a deliberate time (rush hour) and places that are fairly busy. They have obviously picked places that they will not be seen to shoot from and most likely also have a planned escape route, a way to get away from the scene of the crime without gaining too much notice.
These things show at least a modicum of deliberation and not wanting to get caught. As to the people who did not die when they were shot, it is quite plausible that they moved just enough to save their lives in the moment between the trigger was pulled and the bullet hit them. The sniper so far has shown no inclination to use more than one bullet, and as they appear to be picking random targets not specific ones, why take the time to fire again just to make sure they are dead? It is most likely they are at a far enough distance that they cannot check, and if they waited around long enough to double check, the person they were aiming at would be surrounded by gawkers and people looking to help.
It is unlikely to be a terrorist, but it’s scary enough whoever is doing this. It’s a good idea to be careful but terrorists are not everywhere… why has there been no major attack since September 11th? It can’t just be because of increased security, as anything can happen no matter how careful or watchful you are.*
*Not meaning to scare anybody, just a simple statement of fact. We can’t go through our lives wrapped in cotton or in constant fear. Things happen if they are going to happen.
I’m chiming in with the very skilled marksman group.
I believe all the shots were mortal head shots, except the kid who he most likely hit in the lower right side of the chest so as not to kill him.
He is taunting the police. When the police said he has calmed down and there wasn;t a cshooting in two days, he shot the kid.
When police said he was killing in the same geographic area he moved 30 miles east.
He’s obviously watching the television and loving every minute of it.
That in itself basically excludes islamic fundies.
They’ll catch this freak when they stop covering the story on cnn and the morning show. And all the news casters know it.
I’m just waiting for a news reporter to get it on live TV. That would be horrible.
Its interesting to me that so many people who don’t know much if anything about weapons and sniper training are willing to say some of the things said in this thread.
Examples:
This person obviously has arms training.
Teens aren’t likely to be skilled marksmen as these gunmen are said to be
I would think someone with training would be able to make all headshots.
This killer has far more skill than what is required for a hunting rifle.
It’s probably an ex-army sniper (or maybe a police sharpshooter) who snapped.
Just for the record I know a little about what I am talking about here. First of all lets look at what we know for sure.
The only definative range I have heard of so far has been 140 yards. That was the kid. The police say they found his shooting position because of a spent case and matted grass. If this guy was trained they wouldn’t have found matted grass, of course unless he WANTED them to find his position. I have heard speculation that some of the ranges were as far as 600 yards but that was just speculation nothing definative. Second is why is this guy using a .223? This isn’t the ideal round it really isn’t even a very good round for what this person is using it for. The bullet is too light and highly prone to deviation due to wind currents, heat thermals etc etc etc. If in fact this nut is shooting at distances up to 600 yrds with a .223 then I say yes he has some skill but I still say not trained.
As for the statement “This killer has far more skill than what is required for a hunting rifle.” You do realize that the remington 700 is the weapon issued by the U.S military for snipers right. You can pick one up at any local gunshop.
I am not going to speculate who or what this guy is but I just want to point out that this guy so far hasn’t impressed me with his “skill”.
nswgru1 I realize that I don’t know much about guns. I’m going on other things to guess that they’ve got some training of some kind, though I did not discount the possibility of someone else without that type of training.
I have shot guns before and know how easy it is to learn how to. At the very least I’d say we are looking at someone who is used to guns, knows how to hide themselves so they can shoot someone and get away, and are most likely above the age of 16 as is indicated by the white van (or whatever it is) since they are driving.