The Dc Sniper Beltway Attacks

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The DC Sniper Beltway Attacks

MalvoHow It All Started
October 2002 was the beginning of what seemed like the longest three weeks in the Washington Metropolitan Area. No one wanted to believe that what was happening would change the lives of thousands. What appeared to be a random killing spree by an enraged lunatic, turned out to be part of a massive plan that claimed the lives of ten innocent people in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. When these shootings first began, they were believed to be linked to a white van or truck. It was later discovered that these shootings were being carried out by a man named John Allen Muhammad, and his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, in a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice sedan.

The First Killing
At 5:20 p.m. on October 2 2002, a victimless shot was fired through a window of a Michaels Craft Store in Aspen Hill. About an hour later, at 6:30 p.m., James Martin, a 55-year-old program analyst at NOAA, was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery store, located in Glenmont.

Just the Beginning
On the morning of October 3, four people were shot within a span of approximately 2 hours in Aspen Hill, and other nearby areas in Montgomery County. Another was killed that evening in the District of Columbia, just over the border of Silver Spring. In each shooting, the victims were killed by a single bullet fired from some distance. The pattern was not detected until after the shootings occurred on October 3. Fear quickly spread throughout the community as news of the shootings circulated. Many parents went to pick up their children at school early, not allowing them to take a school bus or walk home alone. Montgomery County and District of Columbia schools declared a lockdown, wit...

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...l north into Canada and recruit other effectively orphaned boys to use weapons and stealth, and send them out to commit shootings across the country.

Lee Boyd Malvo
Malvo was initially arrested under federal charges, but they were dropped. He was transferred to Virginia and sent to jail in Fairfax County; charged for two capital crimes and the unlawful use of a firearm in the murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin. Malvo confessed that he “intended to kill them all.” The trial was moved to the city of Chesapeake in southeastern Virginia. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all charges on the grounds that he was under Muhammad’s complete control. In 2006, Malvo confessed that the pair also killed victims in California, Arizona, and Texas, for a total of 17 victims. Currently, Lee Boyd Malvo is incarcerated at the Red Onion State Prison, located in Virginia.

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