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Nation & world briefing Former soldier sought in sniper probe Shannon McCaffrey, Tony Pugh and Kristi Heim Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) ROCKVILLE, Md. — Authorities late Wednesday said they are seeking a former Army soldier and a juvenile be lieved to be his teenage stepson in con nection with the sniper shootings that have left 10 dead in a three-week ram page in the Washington area. A federal arrest warrant was issued for John Allen Muhammad, also known as John Allen Williams, for federal firearms charges, said Montgomery County, Md. Police Chief Charles Moose. Williams, a black male 61” tall, weighing 180 lbg,y ishelievcd to be trav eling with asa eral medial 17-vear “We believe Mr. have information material fc tigation,” Moose said, “hfe considered armed and < In yet another cryptic i the sniper, Moose said, “We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose.” Moose said the sniper had insisted that he broadcast precisely that message. He cautioned against concluding that Muhammad is the sniper. Muhammad served in the U.S. Army at Fort Lewis, near the Tacoma, Wash., home where federal agents Wednesday searched a backyard and dug up a large tree stump that may have served as a the sniper Federal Wash., rental home with metal detectors. Agents carrying chainsaws and us ing heavy construction equipment up rooted a large tree stump and took it away, apparendy to search for ammu nition or other ballistic evidence. They also performed a grid search of the back yard with metal detectors. FBI spokeswoman Melissa Mallon said the property owner consented to the search but would not say why au thorities were there. Neighbors said they believed au thorities were focusing on a prior ten ant who rented the home. He moved outin early spring. Neighbor Christopher Waters, 23, Stationed at Fort Lewis, said in Janu ary he heard gunshots about every other night for at least two weeks. He said they sounded like high-powered gunshots from a military rifle. The po lice investigated but nothinjS it, Waters said. base said federal officials had asked for their help, leading to speculation that the home’s prior occupant may have been a Fort Lewis soldier. The dramatic developments oc curred at the end of a day in which the sniper’s death toll rose to 10 and lead ers of the manhunt defended them selves against allegations that they’d made grave missteps in communicat ing with the killer. “Everything possible is being done in this case,” said Special Agent Michael Bouchard of the Bureau of Al cohol, Tobacco and Firearms. “We’re all parents, and we’re certainly con cerned about the safety of our kids.” an incoming tip-line call was from the sniper, and cut the conversation short. “Five people had to die” because of it, the sniper’s letter reportedly claimed. According to several nc . s reports, authorities spent so much time trying to collect forensic evidence from the letter, which was retrieved from Satur day night’s shooting site in Ashland, Va., that they missed a deadline the sniper had imposed. The mistakes probably emboldened the shooter, said forensic scientist Brent Turvey, author of the book “Criminal Profiling.” “If I’m the sniper, I’m thinking to myself the only way to communicate with these people is bodies,” Turvey said. In addition, “He feels he’s not go ing to get caught.” Diego Ibarguen, Jonathan S. Lan day and Ron Hutcheson Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) UNITED NATIONS — The Unite! States presented a draft resolution on Iraq on Wednesday to the full 15-na tion U.N. Security Council in an appar ent effort to pressure the council to vote soon or risk watching Washington act on its own. After several days of closed-door negotiations among the Security Council’s five permanent members had yielded no visible progress to ward compromise, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said that the end of debate was “in sight” and that it was possible that the Se eurity Council could fail to reach agreement. President Bush has also turned up the hoar on the United Na tions to act this week, emphasizing in speeches that it risks becoming ir relevant if it docs not confront Iraq. It remained uncertain Wednesday when the issue might come up for a formal vote. The: could lie part dip sure nent i cil and hold veto power. All three have refused to go along with the Bush ad ministration’s preferred wording. Britain supports the U.S. position. Bush’s pressure tactics or) the U.N. him and his Republican Party, If the UN. ' of congressional elections Nov. 5 that could give Republicans control of the legislature. Opinion p< >lLs show most Americans prefer to have U.N. badfehlg for any U.S. confrontation with Iraq. However, Washington’s moves Wednesday also could signal that the Bush administration is losing patience with the United Nations and is prepar tag to abandon diplomacy and accel erate plans to lead its own coalition into a military confrontation with Iraq, as Bush has threatened. “They have some amount of time left, but not a lot,” Fleischer said. Bush signed a S355.1 billion de fense-spending bill at the White House Wednesday, observing: “We’ve asked our military to prepare for conflict in Iraq if it proves necessary7.” C 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Gunmen rush Moscow th Alex Rodriguez Chicago Tribune (KRT) MOSCOW — Dozens of masked men and women, identified as “suicide commandos” and demanding an end to Russia’s war against Islamic sepa ratists in Chechnya, stormed a crowd ed Moscow theater during a popular musical Wednesday night and took as many as 1,000 people hostage. As police and anti-terrorist troops surrounded the building, the as sailants reportedly laid mines to de ter an assault. Witnesses said about 15 Chechen women, described by a rebel Web site as “widows of Chechen fighters,” had strapped ex plosives to their bodies and vowed to blow up the theater if police attacked. At least 150 people were allowed to leave the theater — women, chil dren and some Muslims, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. But the assailants threatened to kill other hostages if Russia refused to pull its troops from the southern republic and end a war that has dragged into a fourth bloody year. A Chechen representative in Rus sia’s parliament entered the theater to negotiate with the captors, who num bered between 40 and 50 and were armed with automatic rifles and grenades, police said. The negotiator, Aslanbek Aslakhanov, established ini tial contact with the gang, police said, but the communication was soon bro ken off for unknown reasons. The raid, unprecedented in scope and brazenness, could deal a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rose to power largely on his vow to wipe out a Chechen separatist move ment that the Kremlin deems terror ist. Even as the Kremlin claims to have Chechnya under control, rebel attacks claim the lives of scores of Russian ser vicemen a month, and public support for the war has slipped drastically. Putin, who canceled a trip to Ger many and went to the Kremlin for a crisis meeting, had not issued any statement by early morning Thurs day in Moscow. Inside the theater, frightened hostages were allowed to receive calls on cell phones. Her voice quavering, Tatyana Solnishkina, a musician m the orchestra, called Russia’s NTV television network and reported that the gunmen had vowed to kill 10 hostages for every member of their group who was killed. Solnishkina issued a plea to the hundreds of Russian special forces troops and Federal Security Bureau officers surrounding the theater: “Please do not begin the siege, I beg you. We are treated well. ” But Gennady Gutkov, a member of parliament’s security committee, told NTV television that security forces would not storm the theater unless the rebels began killing hostages. Nine hours into the siege, a hostage spoke to Russian radio by ceil phone and reported that the cap tives were growing weary but were holding out hope that the incident would end peacefully. Ivan Rybkin, former head of Russia's Security Council and a participant in recent talks with representatives of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, denounced the hostage taking but urged the Russian govern ment to try to end die crisis peacefully. “Not only the president should show wisdom and patience, but the people of Moscow as well,” Rybkin said. “We must be careful that this misfortune doesn’t develop into a big tragedy. ” © 2002, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. A Gathering of Stones: Journeys to the Edges of a Changing World Author Carol Ann Bassett Knight Library Browsing Room October 2 9, 7:00 p . m . ❖ Free Friday, October 25, 2002 2:30 P.M. Beall Concert Hall Reception to follow Featured speaker: President Frohnmayer
