D.C. Beltway Sniper executed

[kensei]

I just noticed that no one else had posted on the November 10th execution by lethal injection of the D.C. Beltway Sniper John Allen Mohammed. In October of 2002 he and his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvoe terrorized America's capital by randomly gunning down 13 people, 10 of them fatally, with rifle fire from a retro-fitted car. (Malvoe is serving a life sentence.) With Mohammed's radical Islamic intentions I suppose it could be argued whether this was a serial killer case or a terrorist attack, but I don't imagine the souls of the dead much care. Mohammed faces them now, having offered no final words of any kind in his final minutes of life.

As an American, I support the death penalty, but I also feel a sadness sometimes when it happens for the thought of a life so utterly wasted.

[c.d.]

Hi Kensei,

I thought about starting the same thread but you beat me to it. As a Washington, D.C. resident, I can tell you how scared people were. He randomly killed people in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. A shot to the head with a long range rifle when they were engaged in such mundane tasks as pumping gas. My understanding of his motivation is that it was not religious but rather some type of extortion scheme where they intended to demand money in exchange for stopping the killings. I don't consider myself particularly blood thirsty or vindictive but this guy was scum. He got exactly what he deserved.

c.d.

[Jon Guy]

Instead of the death penalty they should trial cancer drugs on them, or whatever NASA, or car manufacturers need testing.

[CMauthe]

Hi All,

I lived in the DC area at that time but have since moved to Texas. When I heard about the execution it brought back those wonderful memories of pumping gas while feeling as if you had a bull’s-eye painted on you. Some people got back in their cars while they pumped. Some squatted down. At some gas stations they erected giant tarps to keep you hidden while you filled up your tank. Crazy.

Then there was the white box trucks - those small-utility vans that are everywhere. The news reported a potential sighting of one of these being involved in the shootings. Well, there’s a reason why there was a sighting – they’re everywhere! Every couple of blocks, there’s another white box truck. After that you couldn’t help but notice those damned things and be at least a little suspcious. It turned out it was an old Chevy if I remember properly.

I think that the press came down on the police kind of hard sometimes but I think they did an alright job.

I wonder how you might be able compare a similar uproar and civic-wide calamity that might have been taking place during the Whitechapel affair? It’s not that the crimes are the same, but there were similarities in terms of a criminal or criminals haunting a large area and the press clamoring for action from the authorities.