PAGE 10A
Friday, November 1, 2002
Laredo Morning Times
NATIONAL
Sniper rifle tied to fatal shooting in Louisiana
BY CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/ Matt Houston
CHARGES: Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Jack
Johnson announces Thursday, in Upper Marlboro, Md., that
sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo
have been charged with attempted first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the Oct. 7 shooting of a student
outside a middle school in Bowie.
Tests link
sniper to
Alabama
shooting
MONTGOMERY,
Ala.
(AP) — New forensic and
ballistics evidence indicates the rifle used in the
Washington-area sniper
shootings may also have
been the weapon in a
September slaying in
Alabama,
police
said
Thursday.
In a brief statement, the
Montgomery
Police
Department said it was told
late Wednesday by federal
firearms officials that “based
on new evidence there are
reasons to believe” the
same rifle was used in the
sniper shootings and the
Montgomery case.
Montgomery
Mayor
Bobby Bright and Police
Chief John Wilson scheduled a news conference for
Friday to discuss the case.
The statement came after
The Washington Post
reported that new testing
had linked the rifle found in
sniper-suspect John Allen
Muhammad’s car with the
gun used in the Sept. 21
shooting
outside
a
Montgomery liquor store.
Muhammad, 41, and John
Lee Malvo, 17, have been
charged with capital murder and attempted murder
in the shooting, which killed
a store employee and
wounded a co-worker.
Muhammad and Malvo are
also charged in the shooting spree that killed 10
people and wounded three
in Maryland, Virginia and
Washington, D.C.
The
mayor
and
Montgomery police said
earlier this week they were
investigating whether a
third suspect took part in
the shootings, possibly as
a getaway car driver.
Wilson told the Post the
new test results bolster that
theory and that the third
person could have fired the
XM-15 rifle authorities
believe was used in the
sniper shootings.
In Maryland, Montgomery
County State’s Attorney
Douglas F. Gansler said
Thursday investigators don’t
believe a third person took
part in the Washington-area
killings.
“Whether or not there is a
third person involved in a
previous crime has no
bearing on the case here.
Law enforcement is confident that we have in custody the two people directly
involved in the sniper
shootings here,” he said.
WASHINGTON — Ballistic
tests have matched the rifle
used in the Washingtonarea sniper killings with at
least one fatal shooting in
Baton Rouge, La., a law
enforcement official said
Thursday.
The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms confirmed that the same
Bushmaster
.223-caliber
rifle was involved, said the
official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
With the match, the same
rifle has been tied to shootings in four states. Earlier
Thursday, Alabama authorities said the weapon was
linked to a September
liquor store robbery and
killing.
John Allen Muhammad,
41, and John Lee Malvo,
17, face multiple state and
federal charges for the
shooting in Alabama and
the series of sniper shootings in Maryland, Virginia
and
the
District
of
Columbia that left 10 dead
and 13 wounded.
A bullet recovered from the
scene of a Sept. 23 killing of
a beauty supply worker during a robbery in Baton
Rouge came from the sniper
rifle, the official said. The
victim was shot once in the
head. Witnesses described
the gunman as a young
black man who fled into a
park.
It also is possible that the
rifle was involved in a second shooting in Baton
Rouge that did not result in
a fatality, the official said.
Details of that case were not
immediately available.
Muhammad,
formerly
known as John Allen
Williams, grew up in Baton
Rouge and still has relatives
and friends there, including
one of his ex-wives. He visited the area this summer,
friends said.
Muhammad and Malvo
have been in federal custody since their Oct. 24
arrest at a Maryland rest
stop. Authorities recovered
the Bushmaster rifle from
the 1990 Chevrolet Caprice
in which the two were found
sleeping; that car had a hole
in the trunk that could allow
someone to fire shots undetected.
Attorney General John
Ashcroft is considering
whether the federal government will take the lead
in prosecuting the two or
have the first trials in
Maryland, Virginia or elsewhere. Muhammad and
possibly Malvo could face
the death penalty if convicted on the charges filed
so far.