Wednesday, October 23, 2002

It's incredible that Tacoma, where we live, is a nexus of the investigation into the “Serial Sniper”. Apparently, a 42 year old former soldier stationed in Fort Lewis near here and his stepson are “persons of interest” in the investigation. The ex-soldier is wanted on Federal firearms charges.

Apparently, the sniper asked that authorities deposit ten million dollars to the account of a stolen credit card that was taken in an armed robbery in September. Sadly, a person was killed and another person was wounded in that event.

There will be lots of speculation on who these people are, and their connections to the actual sniper, assuming that the soldier and sniper are not one in the same.

Army Ranger and Special Ops forces train at Fort Lewis. Apparently, sniper training is part of the program at the base here. However, I think that there is another theory that may apply here.

Suppose that the soldier stole weapons and ammo from the base prior to his discharge, and that he has been selling them to groups like the “Camp Ground Zero” militia group that runs the training base in Alabama that is also a subject of today’s investigation. Suppose further that the sniper bought a weapon and ammo from the militia base, and was trained in rudimentary marksmanship there. The ex-soldier and his stepson may not be the perpetrators, but may be accessories to a horrible sequence of crimes.

I sincerely hope that the authorities are onto the sniper and will make an arrest soon without further loss of life, unless it is the sniper’s.