Beltway Shootings Research Paper

On October 2nd, 2002, a shooting spree near the Nation’s Capital would begin with the killing of a 55-year-old man and last 23 days. By the next morning, the 911 call center in the area would become inundated with calls of shootings across Montgomery County, Maryland. By the end of the day, four people were shot and killed in Maryland, and another was killed in the District of Columbia (FBI, 2007). Law Enforcement needed to act quickly to figure out if the shootings were linked and if so, who the suspects were. Over the course of several weeks, many more individuals would be killed or injured by shootings at random. The randomness of the shootings led the public to enter a panic, fearful of not knowing who the next victim could be. Law enforcement also had a difficult time as there did not appear to be any specific reason as to why some were targeted and others were not. Once the shootings were linked, law enforcement quickly worked together including local, state, and federal authorities.
Just days after the shootings had occurred, the FBI had nearly 400 agents working on the case (FBI, 2007). The FBI also had set-up a tips hotline, provided profiles, investigators, and digitally mapped the crime scenes (FBI, 2007). During the
The FBI contacted the Tucson Police Department after Malvo talked about killing a golfer in Arizona and robbing him (Cieslak, 2002). Both Malvo and Muhammad were in Tucson, Arizona visiting Muhammad’s sister during the same period of the homicide of the golfer. The killing also occurred only one mile away from the home of Muhammad’s sister (Cieslak, 2002). The possible killing occurred prior to the mass shootings in Maryland. The Tucson killing is only one homicide in the many that the Beltway Snipers are believed to be responsible for committing even prior to their mass shooting spree in