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October 14, 2002
They look through a cylinder of glass and metal at a distant
target, knowing they are about to snuff out a life. They don't
brag about their kills over beer, nor do they overly brood
about them.
They take life only to save other lives.
To them, the word "sniper" is a badge of honor and
a hallmark of skill. And to them, whoever has been terrorizing
the Washington area for the last two weeks is not worthy of
the name.
"I
definitely know they're not snipers, because snipers don't
take innocent life," said Neil Morris, who spent nearly
two decades as a Marine sniper and has trained countless military
and police sharpshooters from around the world. "It's
the most sane, hardworking, dedicated group of people you'd
ever meet in your life. And without us, there'd be a whole
lot more harm in this world than there already is."
Police are looking for any leads that might point to the person
or people responsible for a string of 10 shootings, eight
of them fatal, in Maryland and northern Virginia since Oct.
2.
The FBI has reportedly asked the Defense Department to search
their records from the sniper school at Fort Bragg, N.C.,
for rejected applicants or former students with psychological
problems.
Eric Haney, who trained as a sniper at Fort Bragg and was
a
founding member of the Army's ultrasecret Delta Force, believes
the shootings are the work of a pair of young men, working
in tandem as military snipers are trained to do -- one as
the lookout, the other the shooter. But he thinks the closest
they got to a real elite sharpshooter was at a Special Operations
convention.
"They're utter losers, and they know they're losers,"
said
Haney, who wrote a book, "Inside Delta Force."
Over the weekend, Haney visited nine of the 10 shooting scenes.
He imagines a shooter and a spotter/driver, perhaps swapping
roles after each shot. In his mind, the driver surveys the
scene, tells the shooter when it is safe to fire, then pulls
away calmly, unburdened by the rush of adrenaline the shooter
must be experiencing.
They're clever, he said, but not pros. The longest shot to
date
was 100 yards, and most of the victims were standing still
or
walking in a straight line toward or away from the shooter.
"It's the kind of thing that if you've never shot a rifle
before in your life, you and I could spend 90 minutes together
and you can do this," said Haney, a 20-year combat veteran.
Morris said the fact that the killer left behind a shell casing
and a fortune-telling card is a clear sign that this is no
professional.
"Anything the sniper does or fails to do that give his
position
away to the threat, snipers don't do that," said Morris,
former
head of the Marine Corps sniper school at Quantico, Va.
"They don't leave brass laying around, and they damn
sure don't leave tarot cards."
Chuck Mawhinney agrees.
During nearly two years as a Marine sniper in Vietnam, Mawhinney
had 103 confirmed kills and another 216 probables. No other
Marine sniper in Vietnam had more confirmed kills of Viet
Cong and North Vietnamese army regulars.
The Washington killer has been using a .223 caliber projectile,
which some have called a standard sniper bullet. But Mawhinney,
who lives in Baker City, Ore., said a professional sniper
would use a heavier load, at least a .30 caliber.
There are certain guns and scopes that manufacturers will
sell only to credentialed military or law enforcement shooters,
Morris said.
Haney can't imagine what the Washington killer must be feeling,
because he can't imagine doing what the killer is doing. In
his book, Haney described feeling "soiled and guilty"
after making a 350-yard head shot during a 1983 mission to
support Marines in Beirut.
"For these bastards ... it is a game," he said.
"There's
something so rotten in their psyche and the foundation in
their humanity which is so lacking that it's a fun game."
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