01x05 - Your children are not safe

[bunniefuu]

-There has been a sh**ting
at a school this morning.

A child has been shot.

-The g*nman reportedly has left
a message for police.

-Hello, this is a call from...

-Lee Malvo.

-...an inmate at the Virginia
Department of Corrections,

Red Onion State Prison.

-41-year-old man, John Muhammad,

and a Jamaican-born teenager.

-sn*per team that terrorized the
Washington metropolitan area.

-19-11 I have one down.
There's blood all over.

I'm at the Mobil gas station...

- the most intense manhunts
in American history.

-The serial k*ller hunting
down random citizens.

-We have fear levels here
that I think are higher

than they were
after September 11th.

-Let me go!
Let me go past!

-President Bush is talking
about fighting Iraq,

and we have a w*r zone
right here in his own country.

-Oh, oh, oh, man, oh, man.

-Dean was probably the brother
I knew the best growing up

because of our proximity of age.

He was a very comfortable
single man.

Yeah, Dean was definitely
a favorite uncle,

because he spent time
with the nieces and nephews.

He would gather them up
in his car

and take them on an adventure.

5:00 in the morning,
I got a knock on the door.

The D.C. sn*per got Dean.

-It was the news authorities
had feared but expected.

The sn*per had shot
his ninth victim,

the seventh m*rder
in just over a week.

-Another random target in
the suburbs of Washington D.C.

The victim, 53-year-old
Dean Meyers

of Gathersberg, Maryland.

-The decorated Vietnam
w*r veteran

was k*lled while pumping gas.

-Ballistics tests today showed
the shot fired here last night

is consistent
with the other sn*per attacks.

-You know, when you get news
like that, you think,

"Well, this just can't be true.

You know,
there must be some mistake."

But people don't come
and give you notice like that

not knowing.

This shows Dean in his uniform,

just as he was
leaving for Vietnam.

He was not the fighting-man
personality,

but he recognized his duty,
and he did it.

He was designated
as a sharp sh**ter

to do search-and-destroy
missions on the Viet Cong.

When Dean was shot,
he was helicoptered out.

And the army gave him
a Purple Heart,

but when he came back,
he wasn't a swaggering guy

that had k*lled
so many Viet Cong.

He came back as still the soft,
kind guy that he was.

He was just a random victim,

mowed down by someone
who didn't even know him.

- 1, 2, 3.
- 1.

- 1, 2, 3.
- 2.

-I was in the Gulf w*r
with sergeant John Williams,

who later on was known
as John Muhammad.

We spent a whole bunch of time
together in Iraq.

He was my assistant gunner.

I saw him as somebody
that knew his stuff

when it came to military.

Always neat, boots polished,
everything was done right.

He was always in good shape.

You know if you was to get
in a fight with that guy,

you better end that fight there.

I can remember Sergeant Williams
talking about racism,

minorities in the platoons,

and, uh, white man
in positions of authority.

He was intimidating to people,

especially the white guys
in the unit.

He didn't like white people
all that much.

It went off between our bunks,

right out in the middle
of the tent.

Nobody got seriously hurt,

but a lot of stuff
got destroyed.

Sergeant Williams wound up
being the one

that was under investigation.

They thought that he was

planning on k*lling
our platoon sergeant.

They pulled him out of our unit
right after that.

He was gone.

It was like Keyser Soze.

Like, poof.

He's gone.

-I don't know what happened,

but whatever happened
changed him.

Prior to Desert Storm,
we would talk about everything.

We would have discussions
and laughing and talking.

So that was the man I was
waiting for to come back.

But that's not what I got.

I got the controlling, quiet,

manipulative, constantly trying

to make it appear
that I'm a basket case...

not smart,

can't do anything without him,

never amount to anything.

When we moved to Fort Ord,
California, by the ocean...

-[Laughs]

-...he was
a very involved parent.

-[Laughs] You're my little
black princess!

-Go get him, Selena, go!

And little John was happy,

and Selena was just
beginning to walk.

I got pregnant with Taaliba.

-Here comes the close-up.

Let me see them teeth.

-He would play
with the children,

and I'd see the man
before he went to Desert Storm.

-Got 'em.

-But soon as the children
were not around,

the stranger came back.

-How I first encountered
Sergeant John Williams...

He gave me the instructions on
how to use this weapons system

without reference to a manual.

Drill sergeant standard.

He really understood
this system.

And at the end
of the instruction,

I thought to myself,

"The army needs more
John Williams."

-John joined
the nation of Islam.

-I'll be damned

if you will take
Black America down.

-Free our people from this
insidious force in power

that is misdirecting our lives.

-I was there
in the training area,

talking to
the company commander.

We overheard some soldiers
laughing about Sergeant X.

So, I just said,
"Who is Sergeant X?"

He goes, "Oh, that's
Sergeant John Williams.

The soldiers in the company
like to call him Sergeant X,

particularly
the African American soldiers,

because he's always trying
to recruit soldiers

to be black Muslims."

And I said, "Huh, well, I don't
think there's anything wrong

with a solider
deciding to be a black Muslim,

but I'm not so sure it's okay

to try to recruit people
to be black Muslims.

Particularly during duty hours."

Several weeks later,
I get a call.

It's the company commander.

He said, "Sir, we've got
a problem with Sergeant X."

I said, "You mean
Sergeant Williams."

And he said, "Yeah, whatever,
but here's the deal.

He had an altercation
with his platoon sergeant,

and the platoon sergeant claims
that he is threatening

to k*ll him and his family,

me and my family,

and you and your family."

Suddenly, all that stony, cold,
professionalism

turned completely upside-down.

This guy is capable of doing
something really bad.

I think he's going
to try to hurt us.

And I decided
to court-martial him.

Whatever it takes to
get him away from here.

But we were not perceived
to have enough evidence,

and, uh, they chose
to find him innocent.

-He just said, "The army's
no place for a black man."

And he didn't elaborate on it,
he didn't go any further.

He just made that statement
and that was it.

You don't want to accept
the racism,

and you don't want to live
in a r*cist country,

but the facts are the facts.

You are in a r*cist country.

-The House voted yesterday
to authorize President Bush

to use force against Iraq
and the Senate followed suit

with a vote early this morning.

-All races will be destroyed.

-The state of terror

in the Washington D.C. area
deepens tonight.

A motorist shot to death

with a single
high-powered b*llet

at a gas station
in northern Virginia last night

was the latest victim
of the serial sn*per

who has k*lled six others
in the last week.

-Police struggle with
an investigation

that now spans four counties
and the District of Columbia.

-You're starting to deal with
millions and millions of people.

So, the targets of opportunity

have just
increased thousands-fold.

There was this great fear of,

"It's out of control,
it's going to be expanding,

we have no... no idea
where it's going next."

So, you're just on this
roller coaster the whole time.

-People, you know,
are afraid to take the chance.

So basically, they're coming in,
they're filling their cars,

and jumping right back
in their car,

while the gas is filling up.

-I'm driving every day,

going around the belt,
going through traffic.

and the thing that
you always need is gas.

What are you doing to secure
gas stations

that everybody has to use
in this particular area?

He was able to get
between man and his car.

And so, people were getting
as close as they can,

to get out to get gas.

I'm a big guy,
so I remember trying...

I said, "Look, this is not
gonna work. He got me."

-You decided it would be safer
to sit in the car?

-Oh, yeah.

Rather than be out there
and be a perfect target.

-Some companies now taking
extraordinary measures

to help customers feel safe,

including this canopy to shield
people at the pumps from view.

-The most sacred thing a person
can do is go to work

and go home
to be with their family.

And the shooters were in
between work and home.

And the gas pump became a stage
for bloodshed.

-It was very, very much
like a siege mentality.

People weren't over-exposing
themselves.

They weren't going out
to restaurants.

They weren't going
to school functions.

Everyone is on pins and needles.

Everybody's frustrated.

Everybody's working with
a lack of sleep.

And we're all just praying
that we can close it

before the next sh**ting occurs.

-Ken was... He was larger
than life,

and he touched so many people,
so many lives.

Ken was a very caring person.

He was fun to be around,
and he was also serious.

He loved his family,
and he loved his people.

There are so many talented
African Americans

in this country
that manufacture goods

and provide
services of excellence.

He wanted to make sure
that black people would buy

from black people,
and then hire black people

to help lift
the economics of our race.

Ken was really on that mission,

and he was coming back
from a very important deal.

They concluded their meeting,

and then when he was
coming back,

he was told, "Hey, man, don't...
Don't stop in that area

at any of those gas stations."

But, you know, he needed
to refuel his vehicle.

And, um, that's...
That's when it happened.

-This is my first time back
since that day.

I was driving north
on Interstate 95,

and I wanted to make sure
I had enough gasoline

to get through
the Washington, D.C. area,

uh, where all the shootings
were occurring.

Saw the Exxon.

First thing I noticed
at the Exxon was Mr. Bridges

and his bright-green sweater.

I went around the front
of the vehicle

and, uh,
as I was wiping the windshield,

my back was facing north,
and I had this premonition.

-I looked across,
I saw Mr. Bridges.

He moved
his hands up to his chest.

He took two and a half steps,
he said, "Ouch, ouch, ouch."

And he fell flat on his face.

The way he hit the ground,

I knew that
he was most likely dead.

-The sn*per has struck again.

And once again,
an innocent victim

gunned down at a gas station.

-Ken Bridges left behind
6 children, a wife of 25 years,

and a vast network of friends
and admirers.

-Ken was a loving husband,
father of six children,

and an outstanding citizen
of the Philadelphia community.

The Bridges family hopes
that this k*ller is brought

to justice
as quickly as possible.

I mean, he was a friend,
and it hurt like my brother,

like we were kin.

-It's roadside America...
Motels, restaurants, and m*rder

under the canopy
of an Exxon gas station.

-8 dead now, 2 injured.

The suspect still on the loose,
frustrating police.

Witnesses say they saw a van
at the filling station

where the shot was fired.

-And we saw the white Astro van
has, like, a ladder

on the top of it.

-A white van just pulled up now.

They will interview the driver
and then one will eventually

go round the back
and take a look at...

-At some point,
we decided to release

a composite of a white van,

because it was the only
piece of information,

and because no one had
come forth to eliminate it.

-Hoping to jog
the public's memory,

police released
this composite image,

the white box truck described
by witnesses to shootings.

-Authorities said
the possibility

that a sn*per and driver

are working together
is gaining credence.

-I was over this guy's house,
and we were watching it.

They said they're sh**ting
as a tandem.

They got a spotter
and they got a sh**ter,

and that's what they said.

And then I was like,
"Okay, that's the kid,

and that's John."

-Experts say serial K*llers do,
sometimes, work in tandem.

-And then later,
I called my brother and I said,

"Man, you're not going
to believe this,

but I really think
I know who the sn*per is."

And he was like,
"Are you serious?"

And he was like,
"You don't need to tell me.

You gotta call the police."

The next morning, I think,
I called the FBI office.

They didn't call me back.

-Well, John and I
separated September 1999.

I said, "You know what?
I want a divorce."

He said, "What do you want
a divorce for?"

I said, "Look.

You acting free,
you may as well be free.

Go ahead and do whatever it is
that you're doing

because I don't want to be
a part of this anymore."

-He just had
that "Mm" factor, okay?

I would almost call him
a womanizer.

He liked the women.

I guess some of them
threw themselves at him,

and he didn't throw 'em
back, you know.

-I said, "Okay, I tell you
what you do.

You come to the house,
get your stuff.

Don't ever come back again
because we're done.

We're done."

He became angry.

He would come in
in the middle of the night.

I could hear the key going in
the door to turn the lock

and walk through the house.

I would lay there with my eye
open to a slither

to watch him come in,
go from one side of the bed

to the other, lean over
to listen to me breathe,

stand up and walk out the house.

He says, "You are not going to
raise my children by yourself.

You have become my enemy.

And as my enemy,
I will k*ll you."

I knew John.

I knew what he was capable of.

I knew if he turned on you
what he could do.

I just had my children,

and I was in hiding,
in Maryland.

-Mom!

-The k*ller's been quiet
this weekend

for the longest stretch of time,
three days with no new attacks.

-The authorities are hopeful
that the quick dragnet

after last Friday's sh**ting

may have spooked
the sn*per into hiding.

-There is growing anxiety
about whether,

and when, he'll strike again.

-Okay.

Oh, my God!

-Thing I remember
about that night

was how deathly quiet
it was in here.

-It was all lit up,
almost like a stadium.

-I remember that.
It was so bright.

Everything was bright
for how quiet it was.

It... it was bright.
- Right.

Car was parked right here.

Mrs. Franklin was laying
down behind it with a cart.

b*llet came through here,
struck her in the left side

of the head,
just above her left eye.

Exited out this side of her head

and took off
a huge portion of her skull.

-It was the most catastrophic
injury I had ever seen.

-We found out
it was Linda Franklin,

and that she worked
for the FBI as an analyst,

and that was a game changer.

-This created that sense that,
"Well, could this be targeted,

and could this be now a message
to law enforcement,

that, uh, that... that all of...
All of you are now at risk"?

You know, it's, like, bad enough
to be on the roller coaster,

but then they just
sped it up by 100 miles.

-It was obvious talking
to co-workers

and people who knew her that
she was an excellent worker,

a hard worker, intelligent.

Would do anything for anyone,
a-a sweetie,

not a mean bone in her body.

You know, in all the years
I was doing this,

this comes up frequently,
like, "Why that person?"

-This wasn't just a typical
crime scene that we'd handled,

you know,
thousands of times before.

I mean, we'd had plenty
of shootings to respond to

and homicides,
and so we knew how to work 'em.

This was different.

And all of a sudden, I'm looking
around and there's 200 people,

next to the crime-scene tape.

There was some additional
information

that we were able to get
from last night's case,

and I-I am confident
that ultimately,

that information is
going to lead us to an arrest.

-They have the most definite,
promising,

concrete leads
that they've had at any point

in this 2-week-old
investigation...

An eyewitness who last night
caught a glimpse of the k*ller,

his van, and the g*n
he may be using.

-There was a witness
that had come forward.

A man named Matthew Dowdy.

Said that there was
a cream-colored van.

And he said he saw

what appeared to be
a Middle Eastern man

come out with a r*fle and sh**t.

-This was amazing information
because prior to this,

nobody had seen
who was doing the sh**ting.

So now, all of a sudden,
we think, "Okay, this is...

We've now got
a description of the sh**ter."

-It's evident authorities
have found some of the most

useful witnesses since
the sn*per k*lling started.

-This whole area
was on lockdown.

It was terrifying.

The profile
is a white box truck,

but I'm looking for John, too.

-I'm in a heightened
state of alert

because John knows how to track.

So, to me, it was just a matter
of time before he found me.

And it was gonna be a head shot.

My co-worker
picks me up for work.

She says, "You know,
there's a dark-colored car

outside your cul-de-sac
with two men in it.

I'm getting a funny feeling
from that car."

We pass by the car.

The driver looks at us,

but the passenger
had a newspaper,

and he held it up.

I called the police.

I said, "It's a dark-colored
Caprice or Impala

with New Jersey plates.

Two African American males
seated in the car."

They said, "Okay,
we'll get somebody out there."

We just went on to work.

When I came back from work,
the car was gone.

-The sn*per remains at large.

-And the letter, it says,

"Your children are not safe
anywhere at any time."