Editing D.C. sniper attacks (section)

==Attacks in the Washington, D.C. area==

===Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland===
[[File:D.C. Sniper 1990 Chevrolet Caprice Trunk.png|thumb|A hole was cut at the rear of the blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice driven by Muhammad and Malvo, as a firing port to be used during their attacks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/20/lad.11.html|date=October 20, 2003|work=CNN|publisher=Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.|title=Sniper Trial in Virginia Beach, Virginia Opens|last=Meserve|first=Jeanne|access-date=April 18, 2013|quote=The strongest piece of evidence in this case, the Bushmaster rifle, found with Muhammad and Malvo at the time of their arrest and linked through ballistics testing like this with Meyers' murder and other D.C. sniper slayings. The Chevy Caprice in which they were found had a sniper perch and firing port in the trunk.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203075953/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/20/lad.11.html|archive-date=February 3, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> This allowed them to remain hidden and escape the scene following their attacks.<!--<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/politics/lapd-attacks-dc-sniper|date=February 8, 2013|title=L.A. manhunt reminiscent of D.C. sniper case|last=Abdullah|first=Halimah|work=CNN|access-date=April 18, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218020411/http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/politics/lapd-attacks-dc-sniper|archive-date=February 18, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>-->]]

At 5:20{{nbsp}}p.m. on Wednesday, October 2, 2002, a shot was fired through the window of a [[Michaels]] craft store in [[Aspen Hill, Maryland]]. The bullet narrowly missed Ann Chapman, a cashier at the store. Since no one was injured, the shot was assumed to be random, and no serious alarms were raised.<ref name="baltimore-20021004"/> However, approximately one hour later, at 6:30{{nbsp}}p.m., James Martin, a 55-year-old program analyst at [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|NOAA]], was shot and killed at 2201 Randolph Road, in the parking lot of a [[Shoppers Food Warehouse]] grocery store located in [[Glenmont, Maryland|Wheaton]].<ref name="wp20021004">{{cite news |date=October 4, 2002 |title=Arbitrary Victims, Identical Fate; County's Growing Diversity Reflected in Those Gunned Down |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2002/10/04/arbitrary-victims-identical-fate/1a20c0f5-d4df-4e7d-885c-35d02e487f11/}}</ref>

On the morning of October 3, four people were shot dead within a span of approximately two hours in [[Aspen Hill, Maryland|Aspen Hill]] and other nearby areas in [[Montgomery County, Maryland|Montgomery County]]. Another was killed that evening in the [[Takoma (Washington, D.C.)|Takoma]] neighborhood of the [[District of Columbia]]:
* At 7:41{{nbsp}}a.m., James L. Buchanan, a 39-year-old landscaper known as "Sonny", was shot dead at 11411 Rockville Pike, near [[Rockville, Maryland]]. Buchanan was shot while mowing the grass at the [[Fitzgerald Auto Malls]].
* At 8:12{{nbsp}}a.m., a 54-year-old part-time taxi driver, Prem Kumar Walekar, was killed in [[Aspen Hill, Maryland|Aspen Hill]] in Montgomery County, while pumping gasoline into his taxi at a [[Mobil]] station at Aspen Hill Road and Connecticut Avenue.
* At 8:37{{nbsp}}a.m., Sarah Ramos, a 34-year-old babysitter and housekeeper, was killed at the Leisure World Shopping Center in [[Norbeck, Maryland|Norbeck]]. She had gotten off a bus at Connecticut Avenue and was seated on a bench reading a book at the time of her murder.<ref name="wp20021004"/>
* At 9:58{{nbsp}}a.m., 25-year-old Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera was killed while vacuuming her [[Chrysler minivans (NS)|Plymouth Grand Voyager]] at the [[Royal Dutch Shell|Shell]] station at the intersection of Connecticut and Knowles Avenues in [[Kensington, Maryland]].
* The snipers waited until 9:20{{nbsp}}p.m. before shooting Pascal Charlot, a 72-year-old retired carpenter, while he was walking on Georgia Avenue at Kalmia Road, in Washington, D.C. Charlot died less than an hour later.

In each shooting, the victims were killed by a single [[bullet]] fired from some distance, and, in each case, the killers struck and vanished. This pattern was not detected until after the October{{nbsp}}3 shootings occurred.<ref name="latimes-20021004">{{cite news |url=https://articles.latimes.com/2002/oct/04/nation/na-shootingsoct04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211133600/http://articles.latimes.com/2002/oct/04/nation/na-shootingsoct04 |archive-date=December 11, 2008|url-status=dead|title=5 Shot Dead in Suburban D.C. as Fear Spreads|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 4, 2002 |author=Getter, Lisa |author2=Vicki Kemper |author3=Jonathan Peterson |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

Fear quickly spread throughout the region as news of the shootings spread. At a press conference meeting, Chief of Police for Montgomery County, [[Charles Moose]], informed parents that schools were on a code blue alert, keeping children indoors. He said that the schools were safe. Many parents picked up their children early at school, not allowing them to take a [[school bus]] or walk home. [[Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)|Montgomery County Public Schools]], [[District of Columbia Public Schools]], and private schools went into a [[lockdown]], with no [[Recess (break)|recess]] or outdoor physical education classes. Other school districts in the area also took precautionary measures, keeping students indoors.<ref>{{cite news |title=For Parents and Students, Safety First; Schools Lock Their Doors, and Some Keep Information Scarce in Fighting Fear |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 4, 2002}}</ref> During the course of the shootings, law enforcement agencies from neighboring states became embedded in the investigation through telephone tips.

Police had only a few pieces of evidence to work with. One initial report said that right after the Silver Spring attack{{clarify |date=August 2018 |reason= This is the first time that "Silver Spring" is mentioned in this article. Was there a specific attack that occurred in the city proper of Silver Springs, Maryland? Is there a specific attack that is now simply called "the Silver String attack"?  Has an editor used "Silver Spring" here as a synecdoche for Montgomery County, Maryland and the "Silver Spring Attack" is referring to the multiple attacks by Mavlo & Muhammad there?}} someone had reportedly heard a popping noise and had seen a white box truck hurriedly leaving the scene.<ref>Sari Horitz and Michael E. Ruane, "Truck Took Probe Down Wrong Road," Washington Post, October 5, 2003</ref> After the murder in Washington, D.C., witnesses began telling police that they had seen a blue Chevrolet Caprice rather than a white box truck. The police initially believed that all of the murders were carried out with a .223 caliber rifle.{{citation needed||date=November 2024}}

===Virginia and other areas===
[[File:D.C. Sniper Bushmaster XM-15 Rifle.png|thumb|The stolen [[Bushmaster XM-15]] rifle used by Muhammad and Malvo during their attacks. It was fitted with a [[Bushnell Corporation|Bushnell]] [[holographic weapon sight]], a bipod, and a 20-round magazine at the time of their capture.]]

At this point, Malvo and Muhammad started covering a wider area and taking two or three days between shootings:

* On October 4, 43-year-old homemaker Caroline Seawell was shot and wounded in the chest at 2:30{{nbsp}}p.m. in the parking lot of another Michaels store at [[Spotsylvania Mall]] in [[Spotsylvania County, Virginia|Spotsylvania]], while she was loading purchases into her minivan. By this point, hundreds of journalists had converged to cover the unfolding events. School officials reassured the public that they were taking every measure possible to protect children, by tightening security and canceling all outdoor activities. The weekend passed without incident, but when lessons resumed, so did the shootings.
* On October 7, at 8:09{{nbsp}}a.m., Iran Brown, a 13-year-old student, was shot in the chest and critically wounded as he arrived at Benjamin Tasker Middle School on 4901 Collington Road in [[Bowie, Maryland]], in [[Prince George's County, Maryland|Prince George's County]]<ref name="DouglasBurgess2006" /> Brown survived the attack and ultimately testified at Muhammad's trial.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3225817.stm|title=Youngest sniper victim testifies, BBC News|publisher=bbc.co.uk|date=October 22, 2003|access-date=November 10, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091114093928/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3225817.stm| archive-date= November 14, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> At this crime scene, the authorities discovered a shell casing as well as a [[Tarot]] card (the [[Death (Tarot card)|Death card]]) inscribed with the phrase "Call me God" on the front and, on three separate lines on the back: "For you mr. Police." "Code: 'Call me God'." "Do not release to the press."<ref name="DouglasBurgess2006" /><ref name="Horwitz 2003, pg.119">{{Cite book |last1=Horwitz |first1=Sari |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56636980 |title=Sniper : inside the hunt for the killers who terrorized the nation |last2=Ruane |first2=Michael |date=2004 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=0-345-47662-X |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=56636980}}</ref> Despite police efforts to honor the request not to release information about the card to the press, details were made public by [[WUSA-TV]] and then by ''[[The Washington Post]]'', just one day later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/31fd43d4b45b55e74c0f6cec847d4d92|title=Woman Questioned in Md. Sniper Hunt|last=Dishneau|first=David|website=AP News|access-date=January 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112195126/https://apnews.com/31fd43d4b45b55e74c0f6cec847d4d92|archive-date=January 12, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
* On October 9 at 8:18{{nbsp}}p.m., 53-year-old civil engineer Dean Harold Meyers was shot dead while pumping gasoline at a [[Sunoco]] gas station on 7203 Sudley Road in [[Prince William County, Virginia]], near the city of [[Manassas, Virginia|Manassas]].
* On the morning of October 11 at 9:30{{nbsp}}a.m., 53-year-old businessman Kenneth Bridges was shot dead while pumping fuel at an [[Exxon]] station off [[Interstate 95 in Virginia|Interstate 95]] in [[Spotsylvania County, Virginia]], near [[Fredericksburg, Virginia|Fredericksburg]].<ref name="DouglasBurgess2006">{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Douglas|first2=Ann W.|last2=Burgess|first3=Allen G.|last3=Burgess|first4=Robert K.|last4=Ressler|title=Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6f4QSkXB30AC|year=2006|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-7879-8642-1|pages=455–457|access-date=February 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320120549/https://books.google.com/books?id=6f4QSkXB30AC|archive-date=March 20, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Siemaszko |first=Corky |date=October 29, 2002 |title=2 Sniper Suspects Charged in Virginia |newspaper=New York Daily News |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2-sniper-suspects-charged-virginia-article-1.498208 |url-status=live |access-date=September 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307194137/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2-sniper-suspects-charged-virginia-article-1.498208 |archive-date=March 7, 2016 }}</ref>
* On October 14, at 9:15{{nbsp}}p.m., 47-year-old Linda Franklin (née Moore), an [[FBI]] [[intelligence analyst]] who was a resident of [[Arlington County, Virginia]], was shot dead in a covered parking lot at [[Home Depot]] in [[Fairfax County, Virginia]], just outside [[Falls Church, Virginia|Falls Church]] at [[Seven Corners Shopping Center]].<ref name="DouglasBurgess2006" /> The police received what seemed to be a very good lead after the October 14 shooting, but it was later determined that the witness was inside the Home Depot at the time and was lying. The witness, Matthew Dowdy,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011701768.html|title=2002 Sniper 'Witness' Convicted of Rape, Murder|first=Tom|last=Jackman|date=January 18, 2007|website=Washingtonpost.com|access-date=June 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914110527/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011701768.html|archive-date=September 14, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> was subsequently convicted of interfering with the investigation.

By this point due to public concerns about safety, gas stations had begun to put tarps up to conceal their customers (see [[#Public reaction|below]]). Some people crouched over to pump gas, while others waited in their cars. Malvo and Muhammad did not commit any more shootings for five days before striking again.

On October 19 at 8:00{{nbsp}}p.m., 37-year-old Jeffrey Hopper was shot in a parking lot near the [[Ponderosa Steakhouse]] at State Route 54 in [[Ashland, Virginia]], about {{convert|90|mi|km}} south of Washington, near Interstate 95. His wife Stephanie called out to passersby, who phoned for an ambulance, enabling Hopper to survive his injuries. Authorities discovered a four-page letter from the shooter in the woods that demanded $10 million and made a threat to children.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Serge F.|last1=Kovaleski|first2=Sari|last2=Horwitz|title=Letter offers hint at motive|newspaper=[[Raleigh News & Observer]]|page=14|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/658595172|date=October 26, 2002|access-date=May 14, 2021|archive-date=May 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515175852/http://www.newspapers.com/image/658595172/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On October 21, Richmond-area police arrested two men, one with a white van, outside a gas station. The men turned out to be undocumented immigrants with no connection to the shooter. The pair were subjected to [[cavity search]]es and remanded into federal custody (what was then the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]], which subsequently deported them).

On the next day, October 22, [[Ride On (bus)|Ride On]] bus driver Conrad Johnson, 35, was shot at 5:56{{nbsp}}a.m. while standing on the steps at the 14100 block of Grand Pre Road in [[Aspen Hill, Maryland]]. Johnson died of his injuries.<ref name="DouglasBurgess2006"/> On the same day, Chief Moose released part of the content of one of the shooter's letters, in which he declares, "Your children are not safe, anywhere, at any time."<ref>{{cite web | title=Police Reveal US Sniper's Chilling Threat Against Children - 2002-10-22 | website=VOA | date=October 30, 2009 | url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2002-10-22-26-police-67549937/387574.html | access-date=February 28, 2023 | archive-date=February 28, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228211133/https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2002-10-22-26-police-67549937/387574.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

While no shootings occurred on October 23, the day is significant for two events. First, ballistics experts confirmed Johnson as the 10th fatality in the Beltway shootings. Second, in a yard in [[Takoma Park, Maryland]], police searched with metal detectors for bullets, shell casings, or other evidence that might provide a link to the shooters. A tree stump believed to have been used for target practice was seized.