More sniper shootings coverage

June 26, 2003

Malvo was under a 'spell,' attorneys say

FAIRFAX, Va. - Lawyers for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo are seeking police evidence that they say shows the teen-ager was under the "spell" of fellow suspect John Muhammad.

June 19, 2003

Chief Moose, head of sniper case, quits after fight over book deal

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose, the anguished lawman who was the public face of the sniper manhunt last fall, has resigned because a county ethics board would not allow him to parlay his fame into book and movie deals.

June 17, 2003

Muhammad's lawyers seek nonjury trial

Attorneys for sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad moved yesterday to rule out a trial by jury, arguing that it would be a "legal impossibility" to find a fair panel because the entire juror pool was victimized by last fall's shootings.

June 3, 2003

Sniper suspect's lawyers seek change of venue

FAIRFAX, Va. - Defense lawyers for teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo argued yesterday that his capital murder trial should be moved out of this Washington suburb, maintaining that potential jurors in Fairfax County were tainted by news reports and by having to live under a siege of random shootings last fall.

May 30, 2003

2nd sniper suspect loses death-penalty challenge

MANASSAS, Va. - A Virginia judge refused yesterday to rule out the death penalty for sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, rejecting the claims of defense lawyers that evidence shows Muhammad's teen-age partner pulled the trigger.

May 7, 2003

Malvo's lawyers lose key ruling

FAIRFAX, Va. - Lawyers for teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo lost a crucial fight yesterday when a judge ruled that nearly all of his confession - in which police said he laughed as he detailed killings - can be used in his capital murder trial here.

April 30, 2003

Malvo's rights violated, lawyer says

FAIRFAX, Va. - Battling to bar their client's reported confession from reaching a jury, lawyers for teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo yesterday argued that he was denied access to lawyers Nov. 7, even as several tried to find him and block police questioning.

April 29, 2003

Lawyers spar on Malvo evidence

FAIRFAX, Va. - Defense lawyers for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo clashed with Virginia prosecutors yesterday over the admissibility of one of the most damning pieces of evidence against him: the teen-ager's confession, in which he reportedly laughed and boasted about gunning down victims.

April 25, 2003

Judge in sniper case sides with prosecutors

MANASSAS, Va. - A judge ruled yesterday that prosecutors will not necessarily have to prove that sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad fired the shot that killed a man to get the death penalty.

April 22, 2003

Malvo willingly confessed to shootings, legal briefs say

FAIRFAX, Va. - Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo willingly confessed to some of the shootings during a police interview last fall, laughing as he recalled shooting an FBI analyst in the head, prosecutors said in legal briefs made public yesterday.

April 8, 2003

Sun medical writer Sugg wins Pulitzer for beat reporting

Diana K. Sugg, a medical reporter for The Sun, won journalism's highest honor yesterday for a series of articles ranging from stillbirths to sepsis to the controversial practice of hospitals allowing families to comfort loved ones in emergency rooms.

April 1, 2003

Malvo prosecutors allowed to pursue death penalty

FAIRFAX, Va. - A Fairfax County judge allowed prosecutors yesterday to continue seeking the death penalty for teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo over strenuous objections from his attorneys. She also approved three of six experts the defense wants to use in the trial, scheduled to begin Nov. 10.

March 28, 2003

Doctor will evaluate Muhammad's mental health

MANASSAS, Va. - Lawyers for sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad received permission yesterday to hire a psychiatrist and a psychologist to evaluate his mental health. But the judge temporarily denied requests to hire private investigators.

March 4, 2003

Malvo loses death-penalty challenge

FAIRFAX, Va. - A request by lawyers for teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo to have Virginia's death penalty law declared unconstitutional was denied yesterday by a Fairfax County Circuit judge, clearing a way for the possibility of execution if he is convicted of capital murder.

February 26, 2003

Sniper suspects described as equal partners

FAIRFAX, Va. - Sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo implicated his alleged accomplice as an equal partner in last fall's series of shootings, saying John Allen Muhammad acted as a spotter and called out shots, prosecutors said.

February 21, 2003

Judge unseals juvenile records in Malvo case

In the hectic first days after sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested last fall, federal prosecutors in Baltimore were uncertain of the younger man's true identity, nationality or age, court records unsealed yesterday show.

February 13, 2003

Malvo lawyers seek to avert death penalty

Lawyers for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo filed motions yesterday in a Virginia court where the 17-year-old is scheduled to stand trial in November on capital murder charges in the death of an FBI analyst.

February 7, 2003

Judge denies secret hearing with Malvo's defense

FAIRFAX, Va. - A judge yesterday refused to allow teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo to request hiring expert witnesses and investigators in secret, ruling that the requests must be made in open court.

February 6, 2003

Judge signals he'll open Malvo's sealed record

A federal judge in Baltimore indicated yesterday that he would make public much of the sealed juvenile record of sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo.

January 29, 2003

Murder trial for Malvo set to start in November

FAIRFAX, Va. - Over the repeated objections of defense lawyers, a Fairfax County judge set a Nov. 10 trial date yesterday for teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, who could face the death penalty if convicted in the slaying of an FBI analyst outside a Home Depot.

January 23, 2003

Malvo indicted on 2 counts of murder, 1 weapons charge

FAIRFAX, Va. - Court documents made public yesterday revealed that teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo was indicted Tuesday on two counts of capital murder and one weapons charge, beginning a court process that could end with the state putting him to death.

January 22, 2003

Va. official is 'sure' that Malvo will face death penalty charges

FAIRFAX, VA. - Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said yesterday that he was confident that court documents released today will show that a grand jury indicted teen-age sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo on charges of capital murder.

January 16, 2003

Malvo to be tried as adult

FAIRFAX, Va. - A Virginia judge cleared the way yesterday for 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo, one of two suspects in the Washington-area sniper shootings last fall, to be tried as an adult for capital murder and possibly face the death penalty.

January 15, 2003

Prosecutors offer evidence to try teen as adult in sniper case

FAIRFAX, VA. -Prosecutors offered the first details yesterday of their capital murder case against sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo, using forensic evidence and a widower's heartrending testimony to argue that the teen-ager should be tried as an adult - and possibly face the death penalty.

January 6, 2003

Sniper suspect reportedly linked to two shootings

WASHINGTON - Prosecutors and investigators have linked sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad to at least two shootings, including one at a gas station in Manassas, Va., that left a man dead, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

December 31, 2002

Defense will get Malvo's answers

FAIRFAX, Va. - Attorneys for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo scored a legal win yesterday when they persuaded a judge to turn over to them any statements that the teen-ager has made to authorities about two killings last fall in Virginia.

December 20, 2002

Gag order imposed in sniper case

FAIRFAX, Va. - A judge has imposed a gag order prohibiting Fairfax County police from publicly disclosing nearly all aspects of their investigation into sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo.

December 24, 2002

Article on teen sniper suspect wrong, Va. prosecutor says

FAIRFAX, Va. - A prosecutor denied yesterday as "dead wrong" a newspaper report that said 17-year-old sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo was responsible for most, if not all, of the shootings that left 10 people dead in October.

December 19, 2002

Meatless 'loaf' in Va. jail sickening sniper suspect

FAIRFAX, Va. - Sniper suspect and vegetarian John Lee Malvo says he is getting sick from eating the jail's meatless loaf, which is usually served to inmates for disciplinary reasons.

December 16, 2002

Courage to spare

ROCKVILLE - Justin Dhyani and his siblings decided to donate their allowances to the families who lost someone to the Washington-area sniper even though none of them - not Justin, who is 11, nor his brothers, Jai, 15, and Josh, 14, nor his sister, Tess, who is 6 - knew any of the victims.

December 6, 2002

U.S. agents team up in sniper probe

SEATTLE - Agents from the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched a Tacoma, Wash., gun shop and the store owner's home, teaming up in a new investigation into how a rifle got into the hands of sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad.

December 6, 2002

By Andrea F. Siegel

Sun Journal: Sniper-case defense's ordeal

FAIRFAX CITY, Va. - The lawyer steps up to a bouquet of microphones, runs his fingers through his hair, surveys the cameras and looks exasperated.

November 20, 2002

Malvo lawyers' request for experts is rejected

Lawyers for 17-year-old sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo failed in a Virginia courtroom yesterday in their bid for a psychiatrist and other experts to help them prepare for Malvo's preliminary hearing on capital murder charges.

November 13, 2002

Police can't link sniper rifle to Ariz. death

TUCSON, Ariz. - A rifle tied to the Washington-area sniper suspects was not the weapon used to kill a golfer in March, police said yesterday.

Sniper suspects to be tried first in Va.

Federal authorities said Thursday that the Army veteran and Jamaican teen-ager accused in the sniper slayings that terrorized the Washington area for weeks will stand trial first in Virginia, bypassing the state most closely identified with the attacks for the state most likely to execute both suspects.

November 7, 2002

N.Va. prosecutors file sniper charges

Prosecutors in Fairfax County, Va., filed the latest round of murder charges in the Washington-area sniper attacks and appeared late yesterday to be the leading choice of Justice Department officials for the high-profile assignment of trying the two suspects first.

November 4, 2002

Snipers expose security gaps

The handling of the Washington sniper case has illustrated what two new studies are arguing--that the United States remains, more than a year after Sept. 11, dangerously vulnerable to another terrorist attack and its aftermath.

November 6, 2002

Ariz. killing queried as possible sniper attack

As authorities in Arizona investigated a potentially new piece of the deadly cross-country puzzle left by the Washington-area snipers, a lawyer for one of the suspects said yesterday that the U.S. government has alleged a "crackpot extortion scheme" as a way to force the impending serial killings trial into federal court.

November 5, 2002

A 2nd Clinton shooting may link to sniper

Prince George's County police said yesterday they think the sniper suspects may be linked to yet another unsolved shooting -- this one of a liquor store clerk in Clinton on Sept. 15.

November 4, 2002

Sniper case latest in Antigua scandals

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua - When John Allen Muhammad snatched his three young children in Tacoma, Wash., and fled a custody order 4,000 miles to the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, he landed on an atoll in flux.

November 1, 2002

Sniper rifle tied to killing in Louisiana

The cross-country death toll that police attribute to an Army veteran and his teen-age traveling companion reached 13 yesterday as authorities in Baton Rouge, La., linked the rifle used in the Washington-area sniper slayings to the unsolved killing of a beauty shop worker in late September.

November 1, 2002

Malvo could go to school at Supermax

Amid all the haggling over who will prosecute the Washington-area sniper suspects, amid all the arguments over who will interrogate them, who will charge them, and who may put them to death, another question has emerged: Who will educate one of them?

November 4, 2002

Sept. 5 shooting may be linked to attacks

CLINTON - Paul LaRuffa vividly remembers the night of Sept. 5, when he was shot six times in his car at close range in the parking lot of his Clinton restaurant.

November 1, 2002

Montgomery executive faced balancing act in crisis

ROCKVILLE - The hug was Douglas M. Duncan's idea, naturally.

October 31, 2002

Sniper suspect had reportedly threatened wife

BILLINGS, Mont. - Near the nation's capital, investigators are still puzzling out why two men would come all the way across the country to start shooting innocent people.

October 31, 2002

Officials joust over stopping of interview

The battle over where to try the Army veteran and the Jamaican teen-ager suspected in the Washington-area sniper slayings turned personal yesterday, with Maryland's U.S. attorney forced to defend himself against complaints that he cut short a police interrogation in order to keep the suspects within federal jurisdiction.

October 31, 2002

Tenacious defender represents Muhammad

James Wyda's message outside the federal courthouse in Greenbelt on Monday was a lonely one.

October 30, 2002

Federal sniper charges filed

GREENBELT - Federal prosecutors rolled out detailed charges yesterday that could bring the death penalty for the 41-year-old Army veteran suspected in the Washington-area sniper slayings, as U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft called the attacks atrocities that merited "the ultimate sanction."

October 30, 2002

Gregory Kane: Few speak up for sniper suspects during latest terror

THE PROBLEM with this country is that people or things are never around when you really need them. Where, for example, are those danged "root-causers" in the wake of the recent sniper terror?

October 30, 2002

Dan Rodricks: In sniper shootings, prison, not death, is best outcome

PERHAPS ALL the federal and local prosecutors who want to take the sniper case should have a televised drawing on Saturday night - something on the order of Mega Millions or Powerball - to see who gets to kill the guys. Until yesterday, when the feds stepped in, there seemed to be a considerable argument brewing over which county in which state should get to do the rest of us the big favor of prosecuting the sniper suspects and giving them a long dirt nap. So, settle it with a drawing.

October 30, 2002

Ballistics tests tie sniper suspects to Tacoma killing

TACOMA, Wash. - Standing yesterday at the clapboard house where police now believe the accused snipers made their first kill, an Army staff sergeant clad in fatigues, a black beret and boots voiced regrets and shed tears - both for his family and the country.

October 30, 2002

Gubernatorial campaigns work in sniper issues

Now that two suspects in the sniper case are in custody, Maryland's gubernatorial candidates have quit tiptoeing around the crisis and are quickly trying to mold it to their respective advantage before Tuesday's election.

October 29, 2002

U.S. prepares charges in sniper case

Federal authorities plan to bring charges as early as today against an Army veteran and teen-ager in the Washington-area sniper slayings, effectively cutting short the growing squabble among local prosecutors in Maryland and Virginia over who should take the high-profile case to trial first.

October 29, 2002

Antigua investigating sniper suspects

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua - Authorities here launched an investigation yesterday into the activities of the two suspects in the sniper shootings while they lived here and whether a prolific passport-forgery business financed their odyssey across America to the Washington suburbs.

October 29, 2002

Web site hails Chief Moose

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose may have vanished from TV screens, but his likeness can now be found on coffee mugs, T-shirts and lunchboxes, thanks to an Internet "fan club" organized in part by an aspiring comedy writer living in Baltimore.

October 29, 2002

Detectives begin thorough search of suspect's car

The car that investigators have portrayed as a killing machine used by the Washington-area snipers is getting its first thorough examination by detectives looking for clues that would explain how the men were able to roam the region and kill so many without detection.

October 28, 2002

Schools revising emergency plans

School emergency practices used to consist of fire drills, evacuations and, occasionally, hiding under a desk, which was supposed to protect kids not only from earthquakes and other natural disasters, but nuclear war.

October 25, 2002

Gun in car linked to sniper attacks

The trail of terror police say was undertaken by a Persian Gulf war veteran and his 17- year-old traveling companion has come to an end as investigators prepare to lodge murder charges in a string of sniper shootings carried out from the cover of woods, darkness and a car expressly outfitted for killing.

October 28, 2002

Jurisdictions divided on who gets the case

Maryland and Virginia prosecutors turned up the volume yesterday on a debate over who should try the high-profile sniper case first - the state where the killings began and ended, or the commonwealth where both suspects could get the death penalty.

October 28, 2002

Early tip for police on sniper suspect

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Authorities were notified nearly a year ago that John Allen Muhammad, one of two men held in Baltimore in the sniper shootings, had asked a gunsmith about modifying a rifle so it could be taken apart and carried in a small case before being reassembled for use, police here said yesterday.

October 25, 2002

Histories of 2 men remain a puzzle

In July 2000, in one brief stop on the troubled odyssey of John Allen Muhammad, the Army veteran turned up in a government office on the Caribbean island of Antigua, his mother's homeland, looking for work as an elementary school coach.

October 25, 2002

Timeline of sniper shootings, arrests

October 2

October 25, 2002

A time of joy 'like New Year's Eve'

Montgomery County awoke yesterday as if from a terrifying dream and saw the world begin to come slowly back into focus.

October 25, 2002

Sniper suspect had talked to city policeman

The tall, lean man in shorts and T-shirt who came into the Subway sandwich shop in Baltimore's Remington neighborhood appeared polite and well-spoken. It was late on the evening of Oct. 7, and the stranger said he was hungry and tired.

October 25, 2002

Tipsters sit back, observe arrests after calling police

Larry Blank eased off Interstate 70 west of Frederick and into the rest stop where he works as a custodian. It was just before midnight Wednesday. The parking lot was dead - just two other cars. He chose the space next to a blue Chevrolet Caprice. The car, he noticed, had New Jersey tags.

October 25, 2002

Officials have mixed feelings after arrest of two suspects

ROCKVILLE - For the first time since a sniper began gunning down random citizens in their everyday routines, the three men leading the hunt for the killer found time yesterday for the ordinary themselves: They went out to lunch.

October 25, 2002

African-Americans grapple with race of sniper suspects

In the African-American community, the good news came first and the bad news a half-beat later.

October 25, 2002

Manhunt lands at small Md. town

For weeks, people in Myersville had hoped that the remote location of their small town in western Frederick County would protect them from attacks by a sniper striking across the Washington suburbs and in Virginia.

October 25, 2002

Hopefuls relieved by arrests in attacks

Maryland's gubernatorial campaigns joined the rest of the state in expressing relief yesterday over the capture of the men authorities believe are connected to the sniper shootings terrorizing the Washington suburbs.

October 25, 2002

Frenzy of TV coverage matches events

Yesterday was the kind of day cable news channels were made for: a day when speculation and chat could be largely ditched for the messy work of reporting on a real story - in this case, the arrest outside Frederick of two men believed responsible for the rash of sniper shootings in the suburbs of Washington.

October 25, 2002

A split reward?

Left unanswered in the excitement over yesterday's arrests of an Army veteran and a teen-ager, was this question: Who, if anyone, might claim the $500,000 reward offered by authorities investigating the three-week sniper rampage.

October 24, 2002

Two men sought in sniper case

The hunt for the serial sniper who has killed 10 and gripped the nation in an unfolding plot of terror seemed to be racing toward a showdown last night as investigators sought two men - one a former soldier - who have been linked to the crimes through a fingerprint traced to an Alabama double-shooting.

October 24, 2002

Politicians try to gauge fears as vote nears

WASHINGTON - Fear surrounding the sniper shootings is spreading across the country less than two weeks before Election Day, forcing political strategists to calculate the effect the killings are having on their campaigns.

October 24, 2002

Negotiators on tightrope with sniper

After three weeks of standoff, broken only by each new shooting, Washington-area police and the serial sniper they are hunting have abruptly moved into an elaborate, high-stakes negotiation.

October 24, 2002

On No. 34 bus, passengers, drivers find anxiety a constant companion

They walk past police detectives combing the woods of Aspen Hill's North Gate Park for clues. They try to ignore the fluttering yellow crime-scene tape and climb onto the No. 34 Montgomery County Ride On bus. They pay the fare, sit down and try to convince themselves that things will eventually be right in the world.

October 24, 2002

So many answers, so little insight

"There have got to be some issues going on in this guy's life."

October 23, 2002

10th slaying, renewed demands

SILVER SPRING - After police pleas for a telephone dialogue, the serial sniper stalking the Washington region responded yesterday with a different statement: the killing at daybreak of a bus driver, accompanied by another demanding letter left for authorities, less than a mile from where the gunman began shooting three weeks ago.

October 24, 2002

Police messages to suspected sniper

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose, head of the task force investigating the Washington-area sniper, has attempted to respond to the person who left a message and a phone number at the scene of a shooting Saturday night at a Ponderosa restaurant outside Richmond, Va.

October 23, 2002

High-speed slug especially lethal

Struck in critical locations by a single bullet traveling at supersonic speed, few of the sniper's victims ever had a chance.

October 23, 2002

Kids out of sight, parents fret

The unnerving sign-off to the letter left by the sniper Saturday night outside the Ponderosa steakhouse - "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time" - was enough to shutter school systems throughout the Richmond area for two days.

October 23, 2002

2 communities, one 'tough' loss

It was still dark outside when Conrad Everton Johnson left his family's tidy town house in Prince George's County for his job driving the No. 34 bus route through the leafy suburbs of Montgomery County.

October 23, 2002

Killing rekindles fear in Montgomery Co.

The crack of gunfire at dawn brought home a chilling truth yesterday for Montgomery County residents: The sniper's route of terror had come full circle as he returned to this affluent suburban community.

October 23, 2002

Helping soothe children's fears

Schools are closed or on lockdown, people crouch while pumping gas, parents refuse to leave the house to buy bread for their kids' lunches and now the media are repeatedly reporting that the sniper's letter contains direct threats against youths.

October 23, 2002

Dan Rodricks: Normal people, living amid abnormal danger

CHARLES MOOSE, the police chief in Montgomery County, thinks it was unwise for the governor of Maryland to call the sniper a coward, apparently because such public name-calling is counterproductive in the delicate "dialogue" the police are trying to establish with this killer. "The governor's training is not in the law enforcement field," Moose said. "I am convinced the governor will never do that again."

October 22, 2002

Police to sniper: 'Call us back'

RICHMOND, Va. - Desperate to continue a cryptic dialogue they've established with the serial sniper stalking the Washington region, police urged the killer yesterday to contact them again - specifically, in response to a threatening letter he wrote demanding a large sum of money, law enforcement sources told The Sun.

October 22, 2002

Dialogues with possible shooter draw public, media into search

The snippets were as tantalizing as they were puzzling.

October 22, 2002

Michael Olesker: In wake of sniper, Baltimore provides a sense of security

ON GREENMOUNT Avenue, where the neighborhood starts to get a little rough, Dr. Pallavi Kumar pulls into a gas station. She looks around and sees several guys who are nobody's definition of choirboys. She gets out of her car. As she pumps gas into her tank, she feels an odd sense of security she no longer feels at home.

October 22, 2002

A sniper victim or not, surgeons rush to save a life

Dr. Rao R. Ivatury had no way of knowing that the 37-year-old gunshot victim who arrived in the emergency room at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond Saturday night was suspected of being the latest target of the serial sniper.

October 22, 2002

Richmond falls quickly under a sniper's siege

RICHMOND, Va. - It took just a day for this city to become fully initiated in the rituals of the sniper story.

October 22, 2002

Susan Reimer: Sniper is wrecking the games students play

The killings by the sniper in the white van have thrown the athletic lives of children and families into a holy mess of official overreaction and bureaucratic indecision.

October 22, 2002

Montgomery seeks to ensure safety of voters

With more than $7.7 million raised so far, the 8th District in Montgomery and Prince George's counties is the site of the nation's most expensive congressional race. It's also a critical campaign stop in the gubernatorial race.

October 22, 2002

Son of Sam tells sniper to stop the killing

ALBANY, N.Y. - "Son of Sam" serial killer David Berkowitz has written a letter telling the Washington-area sniper to "stop hurting innocent people."

October 21, 2002

Appeal issued to sniper

Police made a rare direct appeal last night to the sniper who has terrorized the Washington region for weeks, after finding an apparent message and phone number from the shooter at the Ashland, Va., steakhouse where a 37-year-old man was critically wounded Saturday.

October 21, 2002

Drivers of white vans, trucks face suspicion, stares, stops by police

Drivers of white vans with ladder racks or beat-up box trucks have found they need an alibi. Painters, plumbers, caterers and computer installers have been stopped and searched simply because police think they might be using the same type of transportation as a sniper on a killing rampage.

October 21, 2002

Trying to discern a pattern in attacks

WASHINGTON - There is almost certainly a pattern in the Washington-area sniper shootings. Finding it is the devilish detail.

October 21, 2002

The places he has been

Walter Starling is running out of signs.

October 21, 2002

N.Y. police think they have copycat sniper

NEW YORK -- The specter of the sniper shootings hit home in New York yesterday.

October 18, 2002

'Eyewitnesses' often embellish, experts say

Experts in human deception say it's not unusual for people caught up in dramatic events to embellish the details of where they were and what they saw. They often just want to impress people or to feel they're part of important events.

October 18, 2002

Witness' account of sniper proves false

The most detailed and promising lead yet in the serial sniper attacks dissolved yesterday as officials said a potentially critical witness intentionally misled them, leaving detectives with scant clues in their hunt for the shadowy killer terrorizing the Washington suburbs.

October 18, 2002

Americans edgy over D.C.-area shootings

CHICAGO - Crime is no stranger to city dwellers such as Chicagoan Annette Farola. But something about the shootings in the Washington area is making her and other Americans edgy, whether they live nearby or thousands of miles away.

October 18, 2002

Look-alike vehicles trap grandparents

Ray and Shirley Kirk, grandparents who moved recently from Maryland to Delaware, didn't think anything of it when they loaded up their belongings and hit the highway this week, heading to their new antique shop in Harrington, Del.

October 18, 2002

Lt. gov. pledges stricter gun law

Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend said yesterday that she would seek legislation to expand Maryland's ballistic fingerprinting program to include regulated legal assault rifles, her first specific pledge to toughen the state's gun-control laws.

October 17, 2002

Promising clues, but no clear look at suburban killer

The Washington-area sniper's most recent strike appears to have left police with the most promising clues yet, including descriptions from witnesses of a Soviet-style assault weapon, the shooter and the getaway van, but officials said yesterday that they still could not put a face on the killer.

October 17, 2002

Witness sure he saw Soviet-style rifle

As investigators sort through conflicting witness statements about vans, trucks, facial characteristics and possible accomplices associated with the area's serial sniper, most have turned out to be too vague to publicize.

October 17, 2002

Schools devise activities amid sniper lockdown

With her school locked down by the sniper shootings, one Prince George's County principal organized a diversion for her increasingly restless pupils: Popsicles and hopscotch.

October 17, 2002

Kevin Cowherd: Police chief dealing with nonsense from media

IN THE GLARE of the TV lights, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles A. Moose's scowl seemed to deepen with each idiotic question thrown his way, to the point where you wondered if the poor man's features could ever return to normal.

October 17, 2002

At home on the range

Nobody here but us good ol' boys.

October 16, 2002

Sniper victim was courageous, helped others

The latest victim of the Washington area's elusive gunman was awaiting the birth of her first grandchild and preparing to move into a new home when she was fatally shot Monday night outside a Home Depot store in Falls Church, Va.

October 16, 2002

Spy planes to hunt sniper

Sophisticated military spy planes typical of those used to hunt down al-Qaida terrorists in the Middle East will soon fly over the Washington region to help federal and local authorities find a serial sniper terrorizing the suburbs, authorities said yesterday.

October 16, 2002

One sniper amid thousands of tips

One was a Rockville man who disappeared two days before the sniper attacks began. He had recently purchased a .223-caliber rifle, and he drove a white van with a ladder on top. A recovering drug addict, he had recently accumulated large debts.

October 16, 2002

David Folkenflik: Story unravels in light of Va. killing

Late Monday night, reporters found themselves forced to pivot on the fly as a sniper striking anew in the suburbs of Washington knocked the foundation out from under an apparent scoop.

October 16, 2002

Glendening to ban firearms hunting in 4 metro counties

Determined to keep the sound of gunfire to a minimum as police hunt for the serial sniper, Gov. Parris N. Glendening will issue an executive order today banning hunting in four counties in the Baltimore-Washington suburbs.

October 16, 2002

In the line of fire

Rupinder Oberoi didn't need to watch CNN yesterday afternoon to make the connection, although the television news was on all day in the living room of his parents' Linthicum apartment. He didn't need to read the disturbing lead story in the folded-up newspaper down the hall, either. The details of Monday night's shooting - the 12th in a series that has left nine dead and two wounded in suburban Washington - are eerily similar to his own.

October 16, 2002

House unanimously backs bill to improve gun-buyer screening

WASHINGTON - The sniper shootings have cast the politics of gun violence onto the national scene, sending Congress scrambling to address a fiercely partisan issue that has become a focus of the election season.

October 16, 2002

Arundel postpones games, practices

Severna Park goalkeeper Scott McGuire was supposed to walk his parents onto the soccer field to celebrate Senior Night yesterday and then take on rival South River.

October 16, 2002

Sniper attacks affecting businesses

Fear and wariness about the Washington-area sniper are slowly creeping into the books of some local businesses and attractions as would-be customers - particularly children - stay inside or stay home.

October 15, 2002

Woman shot dead in Va.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. - A woman was fatally shot last night in a parking lot outside a Home Depot store here, prompting police investigating a string of sniper killings to swarm the area and stop traffic on major roads in the hopes of capturing a gunman who has terrorized the Washington suburbs for two weeks.

October 15, 2002

Ballistic 'fingerprint' database isn't foolproof tool, experts say

The frustrating search for a serial sniper in the Washington region has renewed calls for a national ballistic fingerprint system that supporters say could quickly link bullets found at shooting scenes to a suspect.

October 14, 2002

Sniper lull fails to calm region

For a second straight weekend, it appeared that the sniper terrorizing the Washington area attacked no one - a welcome, if small, comfort with the killer still on the loose after 12 days.

October 14, 2002

A life of vision, purpose is ended by senseless act

PHILADELPHIA -- Before his death at the hands of a mystery sniper, Kenneth H. Bridges traveled the world promoting a message of a better life.

October 13, 2002

Police provide sketch of truck

Police yesterday released composite images of a white box truck with weathered paint and a roll-up rear door - one of two vehicles linked by eyewitness accounts to the elusive Washington-area sniper believed responsible for eight killings.

October 13, 2002

Remembering the victims

The eight people killed in the Washington-area sniper shootings:

October 13, 2002

Sniper shootings now topic in race

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. accused his Democratic opponent yesterday of trying to capitalize on the fear that has seeped into the Washington suburbs since the serial killings began, but Kathleen Kennedy Townsend responded that the congressman was trying to deflect attention from his own pro-gun record.

October 13, 2002

Mike Bowler: School officials confront a new kind of crisis

FIFTY YEARS ago, a kid's nightmare was a Russian nuclear attack. Today, it's getting shot by a mysterious sniper hiding in the bushes outside school.

October 13, 2002

Sniper cuts down a haven

After the sniper killing people in the Washington suburbs trained his weapon on a Prince George's schoolboy last week, terror joined reading, writing and arithmetic as a fundamental in Maryland schools.

October 12, 2002

2nd gas station killing in Va.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - A fatal shooting at a gas station here yesterday set off a huge manhunt that brought Interstate 95 to a crawl for hours, in what police say is likely the latest strike by a serial sniper terrorizing the Washington area.

October 13, 2002

Family meeting never happened for Md. resident

PHILADELPHIA -- Greg Meyers communicated all week with his younger brother Dean about a meeting regarding their ailing 83-year-old mother without discussing a sniper killing people in the Washington area.

October 12, 2002

Killer's low profile frustrates police

After the Washington-area sniper apparently struck again in Virginia yesterday, hundreds of police officers set up one of the biggest dragnets the region has ever seen.

October 12, 2002

Funeral held for second victim of sniper

GAITHERSBURG, Md. - James "Sonny" Buchanan Jr., killed by a sniper's bullet as he mowed grass, was remembered at his funeral yesterday for his years of humanitarian work, volunteerism and a mission to better the lives of children.

October 11, 2002

Slaying in Va. linked to sniper

MANASSAS, Va. -- The Maryland man shot as he stopped for gas on his long commute home Wednesday night was confirmed yesterday as the seventh person killed by a roving sniper, whose uncanny ability to disappear after his deadly attacks has bedeviled an ever-growing corps of investigators.

October 11, 2002

Spate of shootings rousing parents to protect schools

With a killer on the loose, vigilant parents across Maryland are stepping into security roles - some even taking time off from work - to try to ensure children's safety at schools.

October 11, 2002

Arundel police call report of sniper shooting false

When Arthur L. Schroen, 37, called police from his cellular phone Wednesday afternoon to say someone had shot at him near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, police response was prompt and profuse.

October 12, 2002

Reacting to parental concerns about the apparently random shootings of five people in Montgomery County on Wednesday night and yesterday morning, officials in Howard, Carroll and Baltimore counties and Baltimore City postponed all athletic events and canceled all practices yesterday.

October 4, 2002

Few links among victims

All five of them were doing the most ordinary things before a gunman ended their lives, one at a time, over 16 hours.

October 4, 2002

5 killed in Md. suburb; gunman still at large

SILVER SPRING - A tip about a white truck was the best lead police had last night in a string of brazen, sniper-style shootings in the heart of Montgomery County that left five people dead and swept the suburbs with a wave of fear.