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N0KFQ > TODAY 17.11.15 17:29l 79 Lines 3779 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 74647_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Nov 17
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Sent: 151117/1525Z 74647@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
2003
Washington, D.C., sniper John Muhammad convicted
On this day in 2003, ex-soldier John Muhammad is found guilty of
one of a series of sniper shootings that terrorized the
metropolitan Washington, D.C., area and dominated national
headlines in October 2002. Police charged that Muhammad and his
17-year-old accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, killed 10 people and
wounded three others during a three-week killing spree. After
just over six hours of deliberation, a jury convicted Muhammad of
the October 9, 2002, shooting of Dean Meyers while he pumped gas
at a Sunoco station in Manassas, Virginia.
The first of the "Beltway sniper" attacks occurred on October 2,
2002, when five people died after being shot at long range over a
15-hour span in suburban Montgomery County, Maryland.
Sniper-style shootings continued over the next three weeks_at gas
stations and in parking lots within Washington, D.C.'s Beltway
area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia. Local residents,
frightened by the seemingly random nature of the shootings, which
crossed racial, gender, and socioeconomic lines, crouched behind
their cars while pumping gas and avoided outdoor activities.
Schools held recess indoors and sports teams cancelled outdoor
practices. The killers left a series of cryptic clues at crime
scenes including tarot cards and notes and even called the police
hotline, apparently trying to engage investigators in a dialogue.
The attacks came to an end when police arrested Muhammad and
Malvo at a rest area off a Maryland highway. Their car, a dark
blue Chevrolet Caprice, had been rigged with a hole in the trunk
through which the shooter could fire a gun without being seen.
Muhammad, 41 at the time of the shootings, was a father of four
who had been divorced twice. Although he had a clean criminal
record, Mildred Mohammad, one of his former wives, had filed a
restraining order against him. In 1985, Muhammad had converted to
Islam, changing his name from John Allen Williams. He was
reportedly a member of the Nation of Islam. In the aftermath of
his arrest, police asserted that Muhammad had expressed some
sympathy with the September 11 attacks and might have been acting
out of anti-American sentiment. Later reports, which coincide
with a letter he left on the scene of one of the murders, alleged
that the murder spree was part of an attempt to extort $10
million from the government.
Muhammad served in the U.S. Army from November 1985 until he was
honorably discharged as a sergeant in April 1994. He was a
veteran of the first Gulf War. While in the army, he was trained
as a marksman, qualifying as an "expert" with an M-16 rifle, the
highest of the army's three levels of marksmanship for an
ordinary soldier. To qualify as an expert, Muhammad would have
had to hit at least 36 of 40 targets at distances ranging from 50
to 300 meters. During his arrest, police found a Bushmaster
.223-caliber rifle_the civilian version of the M-16_in Muhammad's
car. All of the D.C. sniper victims had been hit by .223-caliber
bullets.
In the six-week trial, the prosecution produced more than 130
witnesses and 400 pieces of evidence. Though their case was
largely circumstantial_there was no eyewitness to prove that he
had actually pulled the trigger_Muhammad was convicted on all
four counts against him: the murder of Dean Meyers, murder with
the intent to terrorize the government or public, conspiracy to
commit murder, and the illegal use of a firearm.
John Muhammad was sentenced to death on March 9, 2004. After a
separate trial, Lee Boyd Malvo, who was a minor at the time of
the shootings, was sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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