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