Original subtitles

-The Capitol area sniper has killed nine people,

and a law enforcement army is after the shooter, or shooters.

-They have a very strong lead in this case

-The victim was shot as he stood on the top step

of a ride-on bus at Grand Pre Road and Georgia Avenue.

No word on his condition.

-He dropped a piece of evidence.

That turned out to be the owners' manual

for the Bushmaster rifle.

It had 36 fingerprints of identifiable quality

in that magazine.

-Authorities said the possibility

that a sniper and driver

are working together is gaining credence.

-Then I was like, "Okay, that's the kid, and that's John."

-Well, it started with Lee Malvo

enrolling in the high school here,

and there was questions whether Lee Malvo had entered

the country legally.

The school had a pretty hard time

trying to get any information out of him.

We have John Muhammad,

a gentleman that's referred to as his father,

as his guardian, a friend.

Uh, we don't know what he's doing.

It just didn't add up.

So we reached out to his mother.

-I got a call from Al Jensen, asking for help.

He suggested that they were frequently known to hang out

at the YMCA in downtown Bellingham.

The manager confirmed that they're in the building

but where, I don't know.

When I heard voices and... Coming from the locker room.

I walked in and was immediately surprised by Lee Malvo

and John Muhammad

coming out of the shower area of the locker room naked.

The hair on my neck went up because I thought,

"This is not normal to see a father figure

and his son coming out of a group shower together like this.

What have I stumbled into here?"

I showed him my badge and I.D. and asked, "Are you Lee Malvo?"

And he said, "Yes sir."

And I asked Lee Malvo, "Is he with you?"

And, to me, it's an obvious question.

You just came out of the gym naked with him.

Obviously, you're together, and Lee said, "Yes."

I asked John Muhammad, "Are you with him?"

And he wouldn't answer me.

I said, "I'm talking to you.

He said he's with you. Are you with him?"

"No."

"Okay, do you want to go with him to the station?"

"No."

I drove Lee Malvo back to the Bellingham station

to process him for deportation as a stowaway.

We took photographs and fingerprints,

which are not normally required for juveniles.

And that was the last I ever saw of him.

- 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.

-"Sniper team that terrorized

the Washington metropolitan area."

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

-For three weeks,

the most intense manhunts in American history.

-The serial killer hunting down random citizens.

-We have fear levels here that I think are higher

than they were after September 11th.

-President Bush is talking about fighting Iraq,

and we have a war zone right here in his own country.

-Ohh! Oh!

Oh, man! Oh, man!

-This was found at the shooting

of the Montgomery County bus driver, Conrad Johnson.

It's an additional note left from the shooters.

Looks a lot like the note found at the Ponderosa.

The same stars, same handwriting.

"For you Mr Police. Call me God.

Your incompetence has cost you another life.

Do not play these childish games with us.

You know our demands.

Next person, your choice.

P.S. Your children are not safe."

-CNN did not report yesterday, at the request

of law enforcement officials, that within that letter,

there were also unspecified threats made against children

if certain demands were not met.

-The media wanted to know what was said,

the public wanted to know what was said,

and I went to the chief and I said

that this is sort of getting a life of its own.

"They think we're jeopardizing the children.

They don't trust us. This... We have to say something."

-Here comes Chief Charles Moose,

the man of the hour, if you will, taking the podium.

-We recognize the concerns of the community,

and therefore are going to provide the exact language

in the message that pertains to the threat.

It is in the form of a postscript.

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

-It was a very helpless feeling and a frustrating feeling...

Own up to the fact that we can't protect you,

we can't stop this,

we haven't been able to stop this,

and the shooter is basically gloating.

And it hurt to say it.

-A chilling message released by Maryland police

just moments ago, believed to have come from the sniper.

-Children are not safe anytime, anywhere.

-Fear tightened its grip on the region.

A sniper considers their children targets.

-I don't understand this being nice to the police.

They're dismal failures.

-The Chief said the other day,

"You're not the one responsible for catching this guy.

We are. And until that changes, let us do our job.

-You're not doing the job. You haven't caught him.

You don't even know what he looks like.

We don't know if it's a man, a boy.

-Yeah, Pam, Zack, is your mom there?

Hey, sweetie.

At the end of the conference, they read a statement.

The guy said,

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

Just keep them... Keep them in the backyard.

Don't let them ride their bikes or anything.

I mean, we'll send them to school,

but I'll take them to school.

They waited until today to tell us that,

and that happened Saturday.

So, you know, that's the kind of stuff

that really pisses you off as a parent.

I want to know that stuff when it happens.

I don't want to be told about it three days later.

-You drive all around the country and, um,

everybody's got their little police car painted,

and, you know, and it's "to serve and protect."

Well, you know, we didn't...

We didn't fulfill the bargain of protect.

-We were trying our best, but it just always will be in my mind,

a real failure, um, that we couldn't protect them.

-Investigators are scouring for any evidence,

like a bullet casing,

that a sniper might have left behind.

-We were really sucking it up

and thinking about, "Damn it.

You know, what are we missing? What can we do?

Where are we dropping the ball here?

Something's got to give."

-It's amazing to me

that somebody could actually shoot 13 people

without leaving any evidence behind, other than these notes.

-That fingerprint from the magazine that was found

at a shooting in Montgomery, Alabama,

it was just another little piece of a puzzle sitting out there.

Our task force decided,

lets run that fingerprint against the database,

which includes immigration records.

And there was a match.

-I got the phone call from the command post

telling me that the fingerprint had returned

to an immigrant from Jamaica,

a Lee Boyd Malvo.

-Who is Lee Boyd Malvo? Who may he be associated with?

Where does he live?

And that's when we started to piece things together.

-They had discovered the arrest

that I had made about a year ago.

These are a copy of Lee Malvo's fingerprints

that I took when I processed him for deportation.

They were submitted to the FBI.

-I had that file within a-a very short period of time.

There was a photograph included

with his immigration information.

And then I saw references within that record

to John Allen Muhammad or John Allen Williams.

And in one of those reports,

Lee Malvo was referenced as Muhammad's son.

You kind of get a feel for when you've got good information

in these types of cases,

and this was one of those moments

where we have something here.

We've got to really dig into this.

I start gathering information

on John Allen Muhammad, John Allen Williams,

all of his military records.

I now see John Allen Muhammad's ex-wife.

Now I saw reports related to Mildred Muhammad

and a kidnapping, at one time, regarding his own children.

She was a critical piece to me

that brings John Muhammad into the Maryland area.

And my theory at that time is that Lee Malvo,

who in their world is his son, they are together.

-The D.C. sniper task force were trying to dig up

as much information they could about a John Muhammad.

I heard the name, and I said,

"Hey, I had just received a call the other day

regarding that, on the tip line from Robert Holmes."

It became very urgent that we contact him,

so I called Mr. Holmes into the office,

and from that point on, things went 100 miles an hour.

-I just told them I think I know who the D.C. sniper is.

I said he was a buddy of mine in the army,

John Allen Muhammad,

and he may be travelling with, uh, Lee Boyd Malvo.

-He advised us that both Lee Malvo and John Muhammad

were at his residence three times

within the last six months.

They had an assault rifle with a sniper, uh, scope on it.

-And that's when I asked them,

if they got a bullet from the AR-15,

could you match it to the bullets in the killings?

And he said, "Yeah," and I said,

"Well, he fired into the tree stump in my backyard."

I believe he was about right here, in relation to the...

To the trunk that's right there.

-We decided, "Okay, we need to get that tree stump."

-I was still working on pictures of John Allen Williams

or John Allen Muhammad.

I had found a California driver's license,

and I got a hold of a friend of mine out in San Diego,

and I said, "I need a picture of this guy."

He called me at 1:30, 2:00 in the morning, and he said,

"Hey, I've got your picture, when do you need this?"

I said, "I need it right now."

He said, "Well, what's the hurry?"

I said, "Well, take a good look at it,

because I believe you're looking at one of the snipers

involved in the shootings here in the Washington area."

I began to call around to the different command posts.

"Has any police officer around the country

made an inquiry on John Allen Muhammad?"

I started getting information coming in,

and one piece caught my attention.

The Baltimore Police department had made an inquiry

into John Muhammad on October 8th.

Officer Jim Snyder detained him in a parking lot,

but he had no reason to further his investigation at that point.

He confirmed that driver's license

is the one that I'm looking at in all my paperwork,

so now I know it's him.

Officer Snyder was able to write down the vehicle.

It was a 1990 Chevy Caprice with a New Jersey tag.

NDA 21Z.

The FBI were able to search this particular license plate...

...and came up with more than a dozen inquiries

from law enforcement, all the way from Richmond,

up into Maryland, over a month's period of time.

Huge piece of information

because now it puts them in the area

during the time of the shootings.

I was convinced.

These are the guys.

-There was a knock on my door.

"Is Mildred Muhammad here?"

"Who are you?" They said, "We're with the FBI."

I said "Okay that's me."

There was an agent walking back and forth

in the room on the phone.

He stops, and he says,

"Look, Miss Muhammad, we're just gonna have to tell you.

We're gonna name your ex-husband as the sniper."

I said, "What? John?"

My head hit the table.

They said, "Yes, Miss Muhammad.

Do you think he would do something like this?"

I raised my head. I said, "What?

Yeah."

I been trying to tell you that this man is gonna kill me,

and y'all not listening.

They said, "Would you like to go into protective custody?"

I said, "Have you caught him yet?"

"No ma'am."

"Do you know where he is?" "No ma'am."

"And you still have to ask me,

do I want to go into protective custody?"

"Yes, ma'am, we do."

"Yes, sir, I want to go into protective custody."

-Can everybody please stand down?

The press conference is gonna be delayed.

- How long? - Indefinitely at this time.

We're gonna come out in just a few minutes.

Captain Demme will come out and explain or talk through.

-The day was moving fast and furiously.

We're pretty sure that

these are the two individuals that are involved,

but without warrants, we can't put it out.

I appreciate you gathering.

Unfortunately, there have been developments in the case

that we need to really focus on right now,

and we are not going to be holding a press conference.

- She's nervous. - It's kind of mysterious.

But maybe it means some progress -Who knows?

He could've called. He could've not called.

Have they got a tip?

-I would bet my paycheck that, uh, they're gonna come out

with something tonight.

They have to.

-It is so close and the task force has got names

and they're keeping it close... Enough time to build a case.

I was praying nobody leaks it.

Don't even tell me.

Don't tell anybody. I wouldn't.

-We got out here where Mr. Holmes was living,

in an effort to recover ballistic evidence.

Tried to keep it a very low-key search.

Uh, that was the goal.

We did not want to tip off, uh, Mr. Muhammad and Lee Malvo.

-"Get a couple of people, put on flannel shirts.

No one needs... can find out about what you're doing."

-This is the scene unfolding tonight in Tacoma, Washington.

Investigators have been picking their way

through the backyard of a home.

-We had news helicopters flying over.

The news media was down the block from Mr. Holmes' residence

and, very quickly, this information

was on national news.

-FBI agents, ATF agents had swarmed into this home.

-We're in the office talking, and someone says

"Hey, take a look at MSNBC."

-Investigators have been picking their way

through the backyard of a home.

We're told they're looking for bullet fragments to see

if they match fragments found in the D.C.-area sniper shootings.

-Perhaps lodged in the tree stump,

carefully cut and removed from the property.

-If he's seeing this, he knows that his time is up.

I start crying riding down the road that night

because, I said, when they catch him they're gonna kill him.

-We didn't have the one critical piece of information

we still needed at that point.

And that's where they were.

-We had a big discussion about,

do we look for the car and the plate,

or do we use the media and put the plate out

and have all the people in the world look for the car?

The risk is that, if they're sitting there watching TV,

then they know to get rid of the car.

And I have to admit I was probably somewhat apprehensive

about that.

-And, basically, we just said, "It's gonna get leaked,

so the decision will be made for us shortly."

-I... what I did next was probably something

that, uh, the leadership up in Montgomery

probably did not want me to do.

I had a "Be On the Lookout" national teletype

sent across the country.

I also knew that the media monitored those broadcasts,

and that they would pick up on that.

-Are you hearing about a New Jersey vehicle?

- Yeah. - License tags...

-1990 caprice.

-We've just learned that police in the D.C. area

have issued a lookout for a 1990 Chevy Caprice

-We also have a license-plate number...

NDA-21Z.

-The media puts it out... The car and the tag information.

I didn't have it yet, to put out.

Neither did the other P.I.s, but I was like

"Okay, well if they've got it,

and they've got it out there, good for them."

I mean, there... there was nothing we could do now.

This thing was moving in front of us.

-There's a huge juggernaut

gathering steam behind the scenes right now.

As soon as someone spots this car, they're going to respond.

-Get that camera out of my face, okay?

-We the jury find the defendant not guilty.

-The Police Chief Charles Moose

is coming to the microphone right now.

The doors are opening.

-A federal arrest warrant

has been issued for John Allen Muhammad,

also known as John Allen Williams.

He should be considered armed and dangerous

and he may be in the company of a juvenile.

-The serial sniper investigation takes some dramatic twists.

-Finally, police are putting a name out there.

-Believed to be blue or burgundy in color.

License number... NDA 21Z.

-Breaking developments in this case,

a man wanted for questioning by the name of John Allen Williams

or a John Allen Muhammad.

-Okay, I got the picture.

-This thing has engaged.

It's gonna be an enormous manhunt

by virtually everybody in the country at this point.

-This guy is never going to give himself up

because he is playing this to the end.

He wants his fantasy to come true.

-I was working the Washington, D.C., area

servicing several supermarkets.

It was probably about 11:00, 11:30.

Was kind of tired, so,

"Well, I'll just head on home."

-With the latest on the investigation,

lets go live to police headquarters in Rockville.

-We've just learned that police in the D.C. area

have issued a lookout for a 1990 Chevy Caprice.

-We also have a license-plate number...

NDA 21Z.

-That was the first time they had ever said anything else

besides a white van.

I scribbled down the tag number.

New Jersey tag... NDA-21Z

-So, is the white box truck out in your opinion?

-The white box truck is out at this point.

-Just when I was getting on the beltway,

Chief Moose started to give his press conference.

-A federal arrest warrant has been issued

for John Allen Muhammad also known as John Allen Williams.

He should be considered armed and dangerous.

He may be in the company of a juvenile.

-As I got up closer to Frederick, Maryland, there

on Route 70,

I was starting to feel the urge to use the restroom.

Thought, "Well, I'll stop up

at the rest area on South Mountain."

-It's a New Jersey plate.

John Muhammad is believed to be...

-As I pull up into the car lot,

my headlights hit the front quarter panel

of a dark blue Caprice.

-The all-points bulletin is that they're armed

and extremely dangerous, and they warn, of course,

even police to be on the lookout and be concerned about the fact

that they could be armed and dangerous.

-I read the tag off.

My heart started racing.

I was like, "Oh, man, that's it."

And I was really excited by then.

I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me,

and they hung up on me.

So I knew I was gonna have to move to get cell service.

So I pulled on over into the truck area, and I called again.

-We had just moved into this facility,

so we didn't have any TVs.

We didn't have radios.

We were unaware that there was a new lookout put out.

It was kind of a quiet night.

Out of the clear, blue sky, one of my operators says

"Hey, I have this guy reporting that he is with the blue Caprice

that is being put out for the lookout on the radio,"

and my first thought is, "What are you talking about?"

We had no idea that they were looking for a blue Caprice.

I have to call down to the command center,

and lo and behold, it's true.

We need to get police officers up there right away.

-The duty officer says, "Frederick car 662,

switch over to private channel."

Something was up.

And he proceeds to tell me

that they believe the sniper car was in the rest area.

That was a brief moment there where I think my heart stopped.

Are the snipers in that car?

If they were, the odds were very, very good

that we were about to get into a life-and-death gun battle.

-I was fired up. This is what we've been waiting for.

-We got the call to be flown up by our State Police helicopter.

The biggest concern was that we didn't want that vehicle

leaving that rest stop.

-I love helicopters, I'm not going to lie about it,

and, yeah, I was like, "Yippee ki-yay. Here we go."

-When we land, we all loaded up...

And we parked at the bottom of the ramp.

At that point, we moved right up into the wood line.

We're looking at points of cover to go to

if we start to get into a shootout.

There's no room for error.

-State police told me, "From here on out,

no matter what happens, you stay in your van.

Stay in your van till we come and get you."

-I never thought that they would both be sleeping

at the same time.

Just never, never would've occurred to me.

-Malvo had that dead-shark look on his face.

He looked like if he had the chance, he'd kill us all.

So I made a point to say

"Trooper, if this man so much as flinches, snap his neck."

-The most important thing in the whole case was the gun.

I think everybody was thinking, "God, get that rifle."

-We had pulled up the back seat,

and there's a rifle.

Pointed in my direction but it was... there was a rifle.

It was a great relief that these were in fact

the people we were looking for.

-Breaking news from WTOP.

-Two people sought by police in connection

with the sniper investigation

are now under arrest this morning.

We have very fast-developing details on this...

-We expect more on this story when Chief Moose

holds a news briefing in about an hour from now.

-I'm glad we can laugh again.

-We want the Moose!

-Forward pattern.

-It was a great relief to know

that you were getting the chance to go out

and say that it was over.

They just needed to hear that.

I just thought, "Oh, my God, man.

I'm just going to be the guy that didn't catch them."

Weeks, months, years, and then its gonna be,

finally on the tombstone said, "He didn't catch them."

-And I remember there was a bunch of little girls

from one of the high schools who came in with balloons.

Y-You felt like you didn't deserve that,

but they're just saying, "Thank you

for giving us back our lives."

- Chief Moose rocks. - He's awesome.

- Do you feel safe now? - Yes.

-All of the men and women who have taken the oath

and served in the law-enforcement community,

we do it for those victims and their families,

so we will never forget.

We'll never know their pain.

And we only wish we could've stopped this.

-It was almost like a presentation at a funeral.

It was respectful of the people who had died

and the people who were,

you know, now gonna have their lives back.

-You know, I got myself ready.

Thank you, Chief.

Sorry to keep everyone waiting tonight.

And I knew what I was gonna say and release,

and it was important that I was gonna say every victim's name.

October 3rd, Premkumar Walekar in Montgomery County.

Sarah Ramos, Montgomery County.

Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, Montgomery County.

Pascal Charlot, Washington, D.C.

A female was wounded in Spotsylvania County.

A child was wounded in Prince George's County.

Dean Harold Meyers, Prince William County, Virginia.

Kenneth Bridges, Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

Linda Franklin, Fairfax County, Virginia.

A gentleman was wounded in Hanover County, Virginia.

Conrad Johnson, Montgomery County, Maryland.

-It came across the news that they were caught.

We were relieved.

But then I'm like, "Two days."

Oh, my gosh. You know, if only...

If only they could've caught them two days earlier,

my husband would still be alive,

and we could still go on with our lives.

-In that trailer is the automobile.

There goes the vehicle now. You can see it.

It just goes past us right there.

-Maryland authorities hope to charge Muhammad

and his 17-year-old accomplice

with 6 counts of first-degree murder tomorrow.

-I turned on the TV.

They showed his face.

And I walked over to the TV, put my hand on the screen,

and said, "What happened to you?"

My son was crying on one bed.

My daughters were crying on the other.

I pulled them together and Taalibah said,

"Mommy, what did Daddy do? What did Daddy do?"

I said, "Honey, they said he killed some people."

And they just cried themselves to sleep.

-One of the most intense and complicated manhunts

in American history is coming to an end.

-Virginia Prosecutors could pursue capital-murder charges

against the 17-year-old suspect, Malvo,

if he is tried as an adult.

Original subs extracted and cleaned up by Peppe@2021