Sniper and local parks
Yeah,I've been watching the news this morning myself & word has it they have 2 suspects in cutody,they were caught at a rest area somewhere near Frederick MD. and talk about stupidity for these guys,I'm surprised when the A. P .B went out yesterday night that they didn't haul a$$ out of there in a hurry.
If no more shootings occur within the next few hours or days then it's a safe bet that they've got their men & we'll no longer have to live in fear for our safety anymore.
It looks like they caught him thank goodness.
From a statistics standpoint. The sniper shot about 1 in 250,000 people in the area where the shootings occurred. Your chances of dying in an amusement ride accident on a trip to the park are about 1 in 150,000,000. That's a big difference in the odds. Of course, you are more likely to die in an automobile accident than either. There are things that you can do to recduce your risk in all cases.
Something like the sniper is inherently frightening no matter what the odds are. Like rollercoasters this sort of thing pushes primal fear buttons that are unrelated to the actual risk. However, contrary to what it may sound like on the national news, life has not stopped in the Washington/Baltimore/Richmond area. I went to SFA weekend before last. Everyone goes to work every day. Kids go to school. I watched my daughter run in the county cross country championships yesterday. We're not hiding in holes though we are a little nervous and cautious.
Something doesn't seem right... something seems too easy. As BATWING FAN SFA said, why didn't they "haul a$$ out of there in a hurry?"
The heat has been turned up over the past few days, and people are in a panic. The shooter did spread "terror"... was that his intent? Or was his intent to simply "kill". If his intent was simply to "kill" and the shootings do cease, then it is a fairly good bet that these two are the shooters. However, if the shooter's intent was to create "terror" (I.E. a "terrorist" vs a simple "killer"), then can we make that same assumption? If the shootings stop, then they may have caught the shooter. However, if the shooter was intent on spreading "terror", we can not make that assumption.
This is hypothetical, but if the intent of the shooter was to spread "terror" and not simply to "kill", a cease in shootings could simply mean that the shooter has seen two "likely suspects" captured and has decided to lay low. He will see that we all will go back about our business and will "no longer have to live in fear for our safety anymore". When we are living that care free existance again... he will strike again. What better way to spread terror and fear.
The actions of terrorists are stupid and senseless. However, that is not to say that we are dealing with stupid (i.e. unintelligent) people. What makes them so dangerous is that they are are not unintelligent. They plan their attacks... not just randomly start shooting. One thing they seem to have is patience. You don't think the attacks of Sept 11 were planned in the few weeks leading up to that time? They were probably years in the planning. Unfortunately, we, the American public, seems to be very impatient. We want things wrapped up in neat little packages. We also seem to have a relatively short span of attention. "Terrorists" (not simple "killers") seem know how to wait and strike when their victims have let their guard down and are the most unsuspecting.
On the other hand... if we do not make the assumption that "they've got their man" and if we continue to "live in fear for our safety"... then the terror has worked.
What is the answer? Who knows. This is a different world we are in now than we were in on Sept 10, 2001. Before, the Beltway Sniper would have been looked at as solely a "homicidal maniac" and the "terrorist" link would not have been there. Now, who knows. "Homicidal"... definately. "Raving Lunatic" or "calculating terrorist"... who knows.
Will the Sniper attacks stop? Hopefully. If they start again, will be the work of the same person who was laying low for a while... or will they be by compatriots of that person... or by unrelated "terrorists"... or by a copy cat "killer"?
We can only hope they will not occur again and we won't have to be asking those questions.
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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"
But all that's missing is the fact that terrorists don't spread 'terror' for the hell of it. If this were a true 'terrorist,' some organization or sect would be making its case known. That's usually the whole point of a 'terror' attack. They have a beef, and use scare tactics to try to effect some sort of change or to draw attention to a situation.
The suicide bombings in Israel happen for a reason, 9-11 happened for a reason, the violence in Northern Ireland happened for a reason, hijackings happen for a reason, etc., etc.
If a terrorist was going to do something like this, they wouldn't just be making vague threats and asking for cash. The Tarot cards, "I am God" quotes, etc. sound more like a serial killer to me, but I'm no expert in these things.
It is interesting that one of the men they took into custody served in the Persian Gulf War, though, isn't it?
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Hallowave
RideMan said:
"Then realize that without too much effort you can reduce your exposure to the hiding spaces favored by snipers. That reduces your odds even more. The fact is, yes, it's scary. But the media reports I am seeing here suggest that people are downright frantic, that a fear paralysis has set in down there, and I have to think that most intelligent people are more intelligent than that.
(SNIP)
But all over the country there are murderers, rapists, madmen, bombers, bad drivers, terrorists, escaped felons, thieves, and other unsavory characters all ready to do evil deeds. Every one of us is at risk of becoming a victim of some criminal every single day. And yet most of the time we do not curtail our activities, we do not live in fear, and we do not worry about this risk. Statistically, our risk is pretty low most of the time. It's just that right now there is a brazen criminal out there who is getting all the attention."
But think of it like this, when there was a serial rapit running around Rock Creek Park, people knew that by simply sticking to well-lit paths and travelling in groups they could significantly decrease their risk. People also know that by avoiding certain areas at certain times of day, they can reduce thier risk of being a victim of "gang activity". Hell, when we were all little kids, our mothers taught us that we could significantly reduce our risk of getting hit by a car by simply making sure that we "look both ways before crossing the street".
But this is different. The main fear is that people dont know *what* to do to protect themselves. The shootings have occured morning noon and night. The shootings have occured to people who were working, going to school, or just running errands. WHAT do you do to reduce your risk of this threat? *THAT* is what scares people the most. There seems to be no logic behind it, so there is no logical protection from it.
I dunno. But I think that it is a little easier to be critical of the "over-reaction" of the people out here (and yes I agree that it is an over-reaction). But when one of the shootings was at a place where you and your loved one shop (for me the "7 Corners" Home Depot is right up the street from T's house) and one of the victims (the bus driver) is related to people you are cognizant of, it's a little more understandable.
lata,
jeremy
--who personally does not think the people in custody are the correct and/or sole perpetrators
To any who are speculating as to whether or not these are the culprits:
They found a rifle! This is hard evidence, people. When they test fire it, they will compare it to all of the bullets from the sniper. If they match up, then these are the guys. It's that simple. No two guns have the same spiral patterns. If the two don't match up, then we can start with the, "Well, it seems like," and the "If it was a terrorist, maybe, if not..." type speculations. Wait until we know more.
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Never Has Gravity Been So Uplifting.
Bullguy's right,they did find the car & of course have impounded it as evidence,I'm fairly certain that they've got their men & that the shootings are over,just one thing seems out of place though.If,as was mentioned about a hole being cut into the back of the car was made for the purpose of firing the murder weapon without the need for exiting the vehicle then why,in some cases were there shell casings found at the scene as well as in some of the shootings,like the one in Ashland for example were the shots fired from behind the restaurant in the woods?
It just didn't seem logical for the sniper to choose to be on foot in some cases but in the car ion others,I just heard that ballisitcs tests confirm that the weapon found in the suspect vehicle this morning does indeed match that of the sniper,so it looks like we finally have been able to get these killers of of our streets.
Of course we can't get completely in the mind of the sniper, but his choice to be in or out of the car may have been situational. There are 2 possible explanations.
First, in a mall parking lot any car is pretty inconspicuous and shooting from the car would not be difficult. At the school the sniper was faced with a different situation. School lots normally contain only familiar cars and a strange car would have stood out. Also, school lots are often full and parking and positioning the car to shoot from the trunk would have been difficult. This wouldn't have seemed to be the case at the Ponderosa though. However, both of these scenes were locations where notes were left which may have prompted the sniper ot get out of the car.
I think it was all a publicity stunt. This guy wanted attention. He wanted to be the one saying "I did that". It is terrible that anyone would ever do such a thing, but there has to be some sort of motive. I don't think this guy did this just for the hell of it.
On a little lighter note, I could see K-Mart getting all over this. They already have one evil sponsor (Martha Stewert), why not get another one? ;)
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The top 3 all time cobrarolls.
1)Raptor's
2)Deja Vu's (times 3)
3)Batman Knight Flight's
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Dude, you're getting an Intamin!
Speaking of sponsorship, someone here at work made the ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE joke of re-doing the "Virginia is for Lovers" tagline, replacing it with "Virginia is for Snipers".
Some people have no heart!
lata, jeremy
"Only the loot can make me happy..." R. Kelly
But then what do I know? I'm a coaster nut and A/V expert, not a criminal profiler...
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Nobody ever said they were that bright....
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
Thank God it's over!
I hope those sicko's rott in prison for the rest of their lives.
Didn't they say they did it because cubans weren't treated right in America or something. Oh, I get it. So killing more than a dozen innocent people will get you what you want.
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"Life is like a roller coaster; there are ups and downs and it's over all too fast."
Fight Back at: www.realizethis.com
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