Since Oct. 2, Washington, D.C., area residents have been anxiously awaiting the capture of the sniper that has been holding them hostage in their own neighborhoods. During the past two weeks, 11 people have been shot, and nine have been killed. Four people were killed while filling up their gas tanks; a 13-year-old boy was shot outside of his school and remains in critical condition.
A quiet weekend in Washington left residents hopeful that the sniper, or team of snipers, as the case may be, had finished the senseless killing spree, but wary that he would strike again.
Schools in several nearby counties have been secured by locking all doors with the exception of one main entrance; outdoor activities have been suspended, including recess, physical education and field trips. With the bloodless weekend, students and parents breathed a sigh of relief, but the most recent shooting on Monday night has brought back the fear felt since the initial shooting.
"You wonder if the past is prologue," said Shirley Parkhurst, a district tour guide from Alexandria, in an Oct. 14 Washington Post article.
Parkhurt's statement must be echoing throughout the thoughts of those in Montgomery, Prince George and Prince William Counties and Spotsylvania today, after the Monday night shooting that left one woman dead in a Home Depot parking lot.
The sniper's wrath has contributed to the increased crime rate in Washington, D.C., from this time last October by 16.3 percent. There have been 193 murders in the nation's capital as of Oct. 11, 2001, as compared to 166 from the same date last year, according to http://dc.gov/.
Having released no evidence other than witnesses' accounts claiming a white Chevrolet Astro van and a white box truck were seen at the crime scenes and the fact that .233-caliber bullet fragments were removed from the victims, the Washington police have left Americans questioning the identity of the sniper and the lack of tangible evidence. How is it that so many crimes are solved daily, and an 11-time shooter has left no clue, has made no mistake, to give the police a solid lead?
It has also been reported that a tarot card with the message "Mister Policeman, I am God," was found at the scene of last Monday's shooting, a fact police tried to conceal. According to the Washington Post article, a military official said the Army's Criminal Investigation Command was asked to search record of personnel discharges for a lead on Sunday.
After the most recent shooting, Tom Major, chief of police in Fairfax County, was barraged with questions from reporters. While Major appeared to answer the questions, he never actually said anything and dismissed the reporters when questions became more pressing. While it is obviously important to shield evidence from contamination and conceal some facts to assist in the investigation, the police need to afford Americans some comfort by giving them some insight into the case.
Police cannot possibly have so little information after 11 shootings. There have to be blood spatter patterns, shooting angles, distances and other clues that can be measured and linked to form some sort of pattern. Has there been some common link among the victims - ethnicity or social status, perhaps?
The possibility that the sniper is an inner-government official, or former government affiliate, is a real one, as well, as evidenced by the request of the Army records. The sniper is obviously a skilled assassin; all victims were shot in the head or torso, and all shootings have taken place within the vicinity of an easy escape and from a distance of over 100 yards.
After the seventh shooting, in which a man pumping gas was killed, an unnamed senior law enforcement official confirmed the sniper's skill.
"While it's not an impossible shot, it still would have required at least some sort of training or hunting experience. It certainly wouldn't have been an easy shot," the official said in an Oct. 11 Washington Post article.
If the Washington police are attempting to shield the identity of a colleague gone awry, they are doing the American people a gross injustice. With tensions running high throughout the nation, the sniper has caused only more anxiety among citizens already troubled by a faltering economy, a president better suited for Lasertron than the Oval Office, and global unrest.
Whether the sniper is a government affiliate or a seemingly average person, there is no reason he should not have already been caught, or at least identified. Furthermore, it does not seem possible for the police to not have some real evidence with which to ease the minds of citizens of the Beltway. These people are sending their children to school everyday, but are afraid to step out of their cars to pump gas; something must be done to capture this criminal before his numbers rise further.
