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CNN Live At Daybreak

KIRO Radio Correspondent Discusses Sniper Suspects

Aired October 25, 2002 - 05:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More on the investigation and the men in custody now. As we've told you, there is an alleged West Coast connection to the story. Sources say Muhammad once served at Fort Lewis in Washington State, now far from a duplex in Tacoma, where federal agents took off a tree trunk. Apparently it had been used for target practice. John Muhammad reportedly once lived in that duplex.
We want to get reaction now on all of this from Lou Pate of Seattle's KIRO Radio.

Lou joins us live by telephone.

Good morning.

LOU PATE, KIRO RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm fine.

What can you tell us about this guy?

PATE: Well, there's a dual picture coming out. It's a profile, really a tale of two men. And I don't mean John Lee Malvo, I mean a tale of two men, I mean John Allen Muhammad. You talk to some people who say he was the nicest guy in the world, a good father, a good guy. One woman whose son used to play with his son from his first marriage, a former neighbor, said she described him as a role model, that he used to take her son out on outings with his son. And she felt comfortable with him in her care and said, looked at him as a role model.

Then there's the other side, where neighbors said he was a strict disciplinarian. You know, parents have to discipline their kids, but he once whipped his daughter, a neighbor gave us a story, because he caught her lying so that...

COSTELLO: How old was the daughter, Lou?

PATE: At the time I believe she was under the age of 10. But I don't have the exact age. I'm sorry on that. But, you know, that just seems a little excessive. You discipline your kid, but, you know, a whipping? I don't if it was a tree stick or what it was, a strap or what it was. But it just seems excessive. And even family members we've spoke to and friends, they all say he was a nice guy but then they turn and say he had that edge. There's always that edge that they talk about. COSTELLO: Do you know anything more about this connection he had with this 17-year-old?

PATE: Yes. Yes. Actually, John Lee Malvo, the 17-year-old Jamaican, it is thought that they met up in Bellingham, which is approximately 90 miles north here of Seattle, when Malvo was staying at the Lighthouse Mission, which is in Bellingham. And he was also a student at Bellingham High School.

John Muhammad lived at that mission for a very brief moment when he was homeless at the time. And it is believed that there is where they connected. And while there, while in Bellingham, John Lee Malvo, he was arrested because he is an illegal alien. And after, he was facing a court date this November, 2002. And there is a story from sources going around that John Muhammad and Malvo's mother were involved in the infancy of a custody battle for John Lee Malvo and he was, Muhammad was told by police to stay away from Malvo and the mother.

COSTELLO: Yes, because they were never married, right?

PATE: No, no. He is in no way connected. There is no blood relation, there is no legal connection. He is not a stepfather in the traditional sense of the word. He was, it's kind of like if you have a family friend who you call uncle, one of those types. There is no relation legally and there is no relation by blood.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's just a strange case.

Lou Pate, thank you very much.

PATE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Lou Pate from KIRO Radio.

And you could almost hear a collectively sigh of relief with Thursday's arrests. About 20 minutes from now we'll check on the pulse of the community when we talk to our friend in Richmond, Jimmy Barrett. And as always, you can keep up with developments in the sniper story by clicking onto our Web site. It gets updated with every new piece of information that comes throughout the day. The address is cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 25, 2002 - 05:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More on the investigation and the men in custody now. As we've told you, there is an alleged West Coast connection to the story. Sources say Muhammad once served at Fort Lewis in Washington State, now far from a duplex in Tacoma, where federal agents took off a tree trunk. Apparently it had been used for target practice. John Muhammad reportedly once lived in that duplex.
We want to get reaction now on all of this from Lou Pate of Seattle's KIRO Radio.

Lou joins us live by telephone.

Good morning.

LOU PATE, KIRO RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm fine.

What can you tell us about this guy?

PATE: Well, there's a dual picture coming out. It's a profile, really a tale of two men. And I don't mean John Lee Malvo, I mean a tale of two men, I mean John Allen Muhammad. You talk to some people who say he was the nicest guy in the world, a good father, a good guy. One woman whose son used to play with his son from his first marriage, a former neighbor, said she described him as a role model, that he used to take her son out on outings with his son. And she felt comfortable with him in her care and said, looked at him as a role model.

Then there's the other side, where neighbors said he was a strict disciplinarian. You know, parents have to discipline their kids, but he once whipped his daughter, a neighbor gave us a story, because he caught her lying so that...

COSTELLO: How old was the daughter, Lou?

PATE: At the time I believe she was under the age of 10. But I don't have the exact age. I'm sorry on that. But, you know, that just seems a little excessive. You discipline your kid, but, you know, a whipping? I don't if it was a tree stick or what it was, a strap or what it was. But it just seems excessive. And even family members we've spoke to and friends, they all say he was a nice guy but then they turn and say he had that edge. There's always that edge that they talk about. COSTELLO: Do you know anything more about this connection he had with this 17-year-old?

PATE: Yes. Yes. Actually, John Lee Malvo, the 17-year-old Jamaican, it is thought that they met up in Bellingham, which is approximately 90 miles north here of Seattle, when Malvo was staying at the Lighthouse Mission, which is in Bellingham. And he was also a student at Bellingham High School.

John Muhammad lived at that mission for a very brief moment when he was homeless at the time. And it is believed that there is where they connected. And while there, while in Bellingham, John Lee Malvo, he was arrested because he is an illegal alien. And after, he was facing a court date this November, 2002. And there is a story from sources going around that John Muhammad and Malvo's mother were involved in the infancy of a custody battle for John Lee Malvo and he was, Muhammad was told by police to stay away from Malvo and the mother.

COSTELLO: Yes, because they were never married, right?

PATE: No, no. He is in no way connected. There is no blood relation, there is no legal connection. He is not a stepfather in the traditional sense of the word. He was, it's kind of like if you have a family friend who you call uncle, one of those types. There is no relation legally and there is no relation by blood.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's just a strange case.

Lou Pate, thank you very much.

PATE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Lou Pate from KIRO Radio.

And you could almost hear a collectively sigh of relief with Thursday's arrests. About 20 minutes from now we'll check on the pulse of the community when we talk to our friend in Richmond, Jimmy Barrett. And as always, you can keep up with developments in the sniper story by clicking onto our Web site. It gets updated with every new piece of information that comes throughout the day. The address is cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com