Washington DC Area: Updated October, 16, 2002

   Ten people are dead, each killed by a single shot from a sniper fingering a high-powered rifle, in a series of apparently random attacks that have terrorized the Washington area for the past two weeks. The assassin favors shopping malls and gas stations, knows his way around five counties in two states, and if composite photographs are correct, likes a certain style of getaway vehicle, a white astro van.

   Military aircraft equipped with sophisticated sensors, far more sensitive than those used by police, will now join in the hunt for the sniper terrorizing the Washington area, Pentagon officials said yesterday, October 15, 2002. The aircraft will use aerial surveillance tools with night vision to "put eyes on the target very, very quickly," even if the gunman should strike under cover of darkness, a senior military officer said.

   The decision to use the military in a domestic criminal case, while not unprecedented, is highly unusual and reflects the gravity of the search for the sniper who has killed nine people and wounded two since Oct. 2.

   The Army planes to be used, which an official identified as RC-7 Airborne Reconnaissance Low aircraft, are able to keep a low profile by their resemblance to civilian airliners.

 Beltway Sniper Timeline:

Here are the details on the shootings in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington.

October 2, 2002, Wednesday, 5:20 p.m. Oct. 2: Windows shot at craft store in the unincorporated Aspen Hill area of Montgomery County, Md. No one hurt.

 1. October 2, 2002, Wednesday, 6:04 PM, James D. Martin, 55, of Silver Spring, Md., killed in grocery store parking lot in Wheaton, Md. (Montgomery County)

 2. October 3, 2002, Thursday, 7:41 AM, James L. "Sonny" Buchanan, 39, of Arlington, Va., killed while cutting grass auto dealership in unincorporated White Flint area.(Montgomery County)

 3. October 3, 2002, Thursday, 8:12 AM. Taxi driver Prem Kumar Walekar, 54, of Olney, Md., killed at gas station in Rockville, Md while pumping gas. (Montgomery County)

 4. October 3, 2002, Thursday, 8:37 AM. Sarah Ramos, 34, of Silver Spring, killed outside the post office in Silver Spring. (Montgomery County)

 5. October 3, 2002, Thursday, 9:58 AM, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25, of Silver Spring, slain as she vacuumed her van at a gas station in Kensington, Md. (Montgomery County)

 6. October 3, 2002, 9:15 PM. Thursday: Pascal Charlot, male, 72, of Washington, D.C., killed while standing on a Washington street.

 7. October 4, 2002, 2:30 PM. Friday: 43-year-old woman wounded in craft store parking lot in Fredericksburg, Va. She survived.

 8. October 7, 2002: 8:09 AM Monday: 13-year-old boy wounded as he is dropped off at school in Bowie, Md. (Prince George's County) He remains in critical condition.

 9. October 9, 2002:  8:15 PM. Wednesday, Dean H. Meyers, a 53 year old man, killed after paying for gas at a gas station in Manassas, Va.

10. October 11, 2002, 9:40 AM Friday, Fredericksburg, VA, at an Exxon Gas Station. Kenneth H. Bridges, a 53 year old man, was killed while pumping gas.

11. October 14, 2002, Monday, 9:14 PM, Church Falls, VA, at a Home Depot parking lot. A 47 year old woman by the name of named Linda Franklin, was shot in the head, and died at the scene.

12. October 19, 2002, Saturday, at around 8:00 PM DST, in Ashland, VA. A 37 year old man was shot , in a restaurant parking lot. He was in the company of his wife, and they were apparently just traveling through the state, and had stopped at a Ponderosa restaurant to get a bite to eat. Major interstates were again closed, and grid locked for hours, and still the killer remains illusive. He is in critical condition.

13. October 22, 2002, Tuesday, at 5:56 AM EDT in Aspen Hill, Maryland. A 35 year old bus driver, husband, and father of two, named Conrad Johnson, was gunned down while standing on the third step of his bus, preparing his route paperwork for the day ahead. He was pronounced dead shortly after, at the hospital.

  On Thursday morning, October 24, 2002, at 3:19 AM, two men were taken into police custody. John Allen Muhammad, 42, and Lee Malvo, 17, were arrested, while in the process of trying to sleep in their car in a Frederick County, Maryland rest area, off I-70. After a tip from a priest in which he heard a confession of the killing, there had been an APB put out for New Jersey 1990 blue Caprice with a license plate of  N2A21Z. Shortly after hearing that message on the radio, a man drove in to a rest area, where he spotted the vehicle, and called authorities.