SHOOTINGS UPDATE: A Maryland/DC reader sends:
Two contradicting thoughts on the possible terrorism angle:
1. The Montgomery County police spokeswoman said they have no indications that there was any political message attached to the shootings. No words were exchanged between shooter(s) and victims, according to witnesses. Just gun shots from close range.
2. HOWEVER, it seems that all the victims died from a single gun shot. Also, in at least one case (according to local TV), witnesses didn’t see any bleeding — the gun shot was discovered by paramedics doing CPR. Which makes me fearful that these guys are armed with guns/ammo that is a little more lethal than those carried by your average street punk.
Yes — though usually “more lethal” ammo produces more visible damage. Could just be a lucky shot (er, well, several lucky shots), but it’s something to watch.
Meanwhile, read this article by Bryan Preston on Al Qaeda tactics:
The tapes also suggest that the group is shifting its tactics to take into account post 9/11 realities. During the past decade, al Qaeda established a pattern of always trying to top its last feat: A mostly failed attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 led to larger and deadlier attacks on a U.S. installation in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. embassies in Africa, the near-sinking of the USS Cole, and culminated on 9/11. But the U.S. bombing and ground campaign in Afghanistan has, by all accounts, decimated al Qaeda and scattered it across dozens of countries. Following that pattern of bigger and deadlier, we should expect al Qaeda to try a mass-destruction attack on an even higher-profile target than the WTC and the Pentagon, though few landmarks fit that description. But if the training tapes are our guide, a weakened al Qaeda would be planning a series of smaller attacks spread around the West, targeting soft targets which would offer little or no resistance. The purpose of such a spread attack would be to demonstrate that al Qaeda is still capable of carrying out attacks on our soil, and to instill fear and panic around the world. It would be successful on both counts, if we aren’t prepared for it.
Hmm. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Reader Jim Hogue emails that he’s seen this effect with prefragmented rounds like the “Glazer Safety Slug”:
In 1988-89, I conducted a murder investigation in which the victim, a U.S.A.F. NCO, was shot in the right chest at a relatively close range, 8 feet, with one of these rounds. The projectile completely fragmented and dispersed inside the body with little outward sign of trauma, except the entry wound. The victim bled less than a cup of blood and death was almost instantaneous, rare for a thoracic wound. Without several detailed X-rays taken during the autopsy, it was impossible to determine what had killed him since there was no big radiological “shadow” of a normal round. On the X-ray it looked like his chest was full of small metal shavings, something not normally considered fatal.
The current round of information available on your site i.e. “Also, in at least one case (according to local TV), witnesses didn’t see any bleeding — the gun shot was discovered by paramedics doing CPR” sounds to me to be very much like a GSS type of ammo. Especially in light of no reported massive body trauma and copious amounts of blood associated with other type of man stoppers like Federal’s “Hydra-shok” etc., which leave horrific wounds on both sides of the equation; entry and exit wounds.
Anyway, as is almost always the case, most of what’s being speculated – including this – are probably wrong!!! :)
Interesting — and the final point is very much worth keeping in mind. Though I’d say that this is almost certainly an act of terrorism, one way or another. The real question is what kind of terrorism?
ANOTHER UPDATE: Hogue adds:
P.S. Glaser also makes rifle rounds, .223 (M-16 type) 7.62, (WARSAW PACT ammo for AK-47’s, etc.) .308 (sniper rifles) 30-06 (for good ol’ American deer hunters!!) I’ve seen what the handgun versions of the GSS do; I can’t even imagine the rifle ammo version!!!
I don’t really want to.