http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31764
Police told suspects black
from very first shot fired
Eyewitness to Michaels store window
shooting also described getaway car
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Posted: March 28, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Paul Sperry
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
ASPEN HILL, Md. – Just hours after the Beltway snipers shot out a crafts store window here, kicking off a three-week rampage, a pizza delivery man on shift next to the store told local police he saw two short-haired black males leave the scene – laughing and "high-fiving" each other – in a dark, older-model car, WorldNetDaily has learned.
Yet the sniper task force, led by Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, ignored the early eyewitness account and focused instead on a white suspect in a white vehicle, according to MCPD investigators, who are now speaking out about what they call racially correct "tunnel vision" during the nation's largest manhunt.
The snipers shot out a window at a Michaels craft store here in Aspen Hill at 5:20 p.m. on Oct. 2. About 45 minutes later, they shot and killed a 55-year-old man in a grocery store parking lot in nearby Wheaton, Md. He was the first of the snipers' 13 victims.
Suspecting the Michaels shooting was connected, one of Moose's homicide detectives canvassed the shopping center there, a senior investigator says. He took a statement from a Papa John's Pizza employee working two doors down from Michaels, who said he heard the rifle report and turned to see "two black males with short hair" driving slowly away in a dark-colored "beat-up vehicle," the source said.
The witness told the detective the men were "laughing and high-fiving themselves" as they left the parking lot, according to the investigator, who requested anonymity. The car then sped up as it exited the parking lot, as if "fleeing the scene," as the witness reportedly put it.
The detective filed a written report with headquarters, but the eyewitness statement was buried, department sources say.
The manager of the Papa John's store in Aspen Hill yesterday confirmed that one of his drivers, Steve Cribbin, witnessed the snipers leave the parking lot the evening of Oct. 2.
"He said he heard the shot and he saw a car kind of speeding out of the parking lot," manager James Colston told WorldNetDaily.
John Allen Muhammad, 42, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, both black, were arrested in the murder spree on Oct. 24, while sleeping at a rural Maryland rest area. They were in a dark blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice.
Some Montgomery county police officers charge that Moose was reluctant to release the suspects' race throughout the manhunt, because he had agreed with the Justice Department to end racial profiling in the county in 2000. Moose, who has blamed "systemic racism" for what he calls an "overrepresentation" of blacks on death row, also ended racial profiling in Portland, Ore., when he served as that city's police chief.
"Moose didn't want his officers stopping every black in Montgomery County," said one officer who worked on the investigation. "Of course, it was OK to stop every white in a white box truck."
The officer, who wished to remain nameless, says he knows that Moose personally was aware of the descriptions of Muhammad and Malvo as early as Oct. 21, the day before they took their last victim, a bus driver in Aspen Hill.
"Once he had the info, he didn't disclose it, and Conrad Johnson, the last victim, was killed," he said.
Moose has been working closely with Johnson's family to lobby state lawmakers for even tougher gun laws in Maryland.
Moose was positive enough about at least Muhammad's identity that he secretly dispatched a team of undercover agents, led by a Special Investigations Division commander, to stake out Muhammad's ex-wife's house two days before he was captured, as WorldNetDaily first reported. Moose swore the agents to secrecy, and he didn't release a look-out bulletin for Muhammad or Malvo with their physical descriptions for another 24 hours.
Police union officials recently complained in salary arbitration hearings with the county that Moose jeopardized investigators' and patrol officers' safety by withholding the descriptions, as WorldNetDaily also exclusively reported.
"Shame on him. Shame on him and everyone else who knew the look-out and kept it from investigators and patrol officers," another officer said in an internal police department e-mail obtained by WorldNetDaily. "Thank the heavens God was looking out for us, because Moose and his cronies were not."
The same officer called Moose a "self-promoting clown."
A Montgomery County ethics panel ruled last week that the 49-year-old chief cannot cash in on his role in the sniper manhunt with planned book and movie deals.
Moose did not respond to both verbal and written requests for an interview, which were made before he was called early last week to active duty with the U.S. Air National Guard.
Police told suspects black
from very first shot fired
Eyewitness to Michaels store window
shooting also described getaway car
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: March 28, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Paul Sperry
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
ASPEN HILL, Md. – Just hours after the Beltway snipers shot out a crafts store window here, kicking off a three-week rampage, a pizza delivery man on shift next to the store told local police he saw two short-haired black males leave the scene – laughing and "high-fiving" each other – in a dark, older-model car, WorldNetDaily has learned.
Yet the sniper task force, led by Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, ignored the early eyewitness account and focused instead on a white suspect in a white vehicle, according to MCPD investigators, who are now speaking out about what they call racially correct "tunnel vision" during the nation's largest manhunt.
The snipers shot out a window at a Michaels craft store here in Aspen Hill at 5:20 p.m. on Oct. 2. About 45 minutes later, they shot and killed a 55-year-old man in a grocery store parking lot in nearby Wheaton, Md. He was the first of the snipers' 13 victims.
Suspecting the Michaels shooting was connected, one of Moose's homicide detectives canvassed the shopping center there, a senior investigator says. He took a statement from a Papa John's Pizza employee working two doors down from Michaels, who said he heard the rifle report and turned to see "two black males with short hair" driving slowly away in a dark-colored "beat-up vehicle," the source said.
The witness told the detective the men were "laughing and high-fiving themselves" as they left the parking lot, according to the investigator, who requested anonymity. The car then sped up as it exited the parking lot, as if "fleeing the scene," as the witness reportedly put it.
The detective filed a written report with headquarters, but the eyewitness statement was buried, department sources say.
The manager of the Papa John's store in Aspen Hill yesterday confirmed that one of his drivers, Steve Cribbin, witnessed the snipers leave the parking lot the evening of Oct. 2.
"He said he heard the shot and he saw a car kind of speeding out of the parking lot," manager James Colston told WorldNetDaily.
John Allen Muhammad, 42, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, both black, were arrested in the murder spree on Oct. 24, while sleeping at a rural Maryland rest area. They were in a dark blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice.
Some Montgomery county police officers charge that Moose was reluctant to release the suspects' race throughout the manhunt, because he had agreed with the Justice Department to end racial profiling in the county in 2000. Moose, who has blamed "systemic racism" for what he calls an "overrepresentation" of blacks on death row, also ended racial profiling in Portland, Ore., when he served as that city's police chief.
"Moose didn't want his officers stopping every black in Montgomery County," said one officer who worked on the investigation. "Of course, it was OK to stop every white in a white box truck."
The officer, who wished to remain nameless, says he knows that Moose personally was aware of the descriptions of Muhammad and Malvo as early as Oct. 21, the day before they took their last victim, a bus driver in Aspen Hill.
"Once he had the info, he didn't disclose it, and Conrad Johnson, the last victim, was killed," he said.
Moose has been working closely with Johnson's family to lobby state lawmakers for even tougher gun laws in Maryland.
Moose was positive enough about at least Muhammad's identity that he secretly dispatched a team of undercover agents, led by a Special Investigations Division commander, to stake out Muhammad's ex-wife's house two days before he was captured, as WorldNetDaily first reported. Moose swore the agents to secrecy, and he didn't release a look-out bulletin for Muhammad or Malvo with their physical descriptions for another 24 hours.
Police union officials recently complained in salary arbitration hearings with the county that Moose jeopardized investigators' and patrol officers' safety by withholding the descriptions, as WorldNetDaily also exclusively reported.
"Shame on him. Shame on him and everyone else who knew the look-out and kept it from investigators and patrol officers," another officer said in an internal police department e-mail obtained by WorldNetDaily. "Thank the heavens God was looking out for us, because Moose and his cronies were not."
The same officer called Moose a "self-promoting clown."
A Montgomery County ethics panel ruled last week that the 49-year-old chief cannot cash in on his role in the sniper manhunt with planned book and movie deals.
Moose did not respond to both verbal and written requests for an interview, which were made before he was called early last week to active duty with the U.S. Air National Guard.
