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Sniper Suspects: Suspects Charged in Baton Rouge Murder

Aired November 01, 2002 - 13:00   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.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now that law enforcement officials know what to look for, the sniper trail is growing longer. The latest killing attributed to the suspects is September 23rd, the shooting of a Korean shopkeeper in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Charles Molineaux is there where police are expected to hold a news conference sharply.
Charles, the question many people want to know, was there a third gunman?

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is the real question right now as we have seen some potentially dramatic new evidence come out in this case, evidence which actually strengthens the case of police in the shooting that happened here in Montgomery, but also it may make them rethink some of their theories. On the other hand, police do think that the D.C. area sniper suspects are their men for the shooting that happened here.

Witnesses saw they saw John Malvo and John Muhammad on the scene when Claudine Parker was shot and killed outside a liquor store. A fingerprint from John Malvo was found on the scene as well.

Yesterday, we had word that ATF ballistics tests found the victim was shot with that Bushmaster rifle found in Muhammad's car, which has been linked to almost all of the D.C. area sniper shootings. But none of the witnesses said they saw anybody on the scene with a rifle. One Montgomery cop said he saw Muhammad with a handgun. He had actually given chase to Muhammad, and the theory had been developing pretty solidly that the victim was shot with a .22 caliber handgun.

Now we have word, no, it was not; it was the rifle. Well, if no one saw anybody with a rifle at the scene, witnesses saw they saw Muhammad and Malvo, who fired the rifle? That races the question of possibly a third person being involved in at least this one shooting, which happened on September 21st. So the question is, is there another person still at large who may have been involved.

Another bit of speculation, and this is totally speculation, but at the time of this chase between the cop and Muhammad, the cop was brought up short by a blue car, which pulled in front of him. At the time, police thought that was just a coincidence, but of course we now have word that Mohammad and Malvo were arrested in that blue 1990 Chevy Caprice. A connection? Police still are not sure and are looking into that as well.

Meanwhile, of course, we've been watching word about this shooting in Baton Rouge, this one happened no September 23rd, two days after the shooting in Montgomery. Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana have issued arrest warrants yesterday for Muhammad and Malvo. This one happened outside a beauty supply business in Baton Rouge. Hong Ballenger was shot to death after closing the place up. Ballistic tests have confirmed that the gun that killed her was also the Bushmaster. Ballistics tests that backed that up as well.

That makes four states in which the two suspects are officially accused of murders. But there are questions circulating around the country, and of course, there are other cases, including in Tacoma, Washington, one murder and one shooting at a synagogue, which have been tentatively linked to weapons connected to Muhammad.

So this investigation continues, and the complexity of it continues to broaden. Martin, we may have to rename this one, because obviously we're not dealing any more with just a case of sniper shootings happening around the D.C. area.

SAVIDGE: No, it remains to be seen how far it will go. What is expected out of this news conference later?

MOLINEAUX: At the moment, it looks like we're just likely to get some elaboration on the evidence which has been trickling out over the past couple days about the ballistic tests.

It's sort of interesting, of course, this is a dramatic turnaround from what we had been saying earlier. Of course early ballistics tests failed to connect the shooting of the victim at the liquor store with the Bushmaster rifle, and only lately, have we discovered this. Keep in mind, the earlier tests were done before ATF investigators had the Bushmaster rifle to do test firings with. So they have more to work with, and the evidence has apparently come up a little bit differently this time and determined, yes, this was a case of that rifle shooting. If so, who did it? Was it perhaps somebody still on the loose, neither Malvo nor Muhammad.

SAVIDGE: Charles Molineaux, live from Montgomery, Alabama. Thanks very much.

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 November 1, 2002 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now that law enforcement officials know what to look for, the sniper trail is growing longer. The latest killing attributed to the suspects is September 23rd, the shooting of a Korean shopkeeper in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Charles Molineaux is there where police are expected to hold a news conference sharply.
Charles, the question many people want to know, was there a third gunman?

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is the real question right now as we have seen some potentially dramatic new evidence come out in this case, evidence which actually strengthens the case of police in the shooting that happened here in Montgomery, but also it may make them rethink some of their theories. On the other hand, police do think that the D.C. area sniper suspects are their men for the shooting that happened here.

Witnesses saw they saw John Malvo and John Muhammad on the scene when Claudine Parker was shot and killed outside a liquor store. A fingerprint from John Malvo was found on the scene as well.

Yesterday, we had word that ATF ballistics tests found the victim was shot with that Bushmaster rifle found in Muhammad's car, which has been linked to almost all of the D.C. area sniper shootings. But none of the witnesses said they saw anybody on the scene with a rifle. One Montgomery cop said he saw Muhammad with a handgun. He had actually given chase to Muhammad, and the theory had been developing pretty solidly that the victim was shot with a .22 caliber handgun.

Now we have word, no, it was not; it was the rifle. Well, if no one saw anybody with a rifle at the scene, witnesses saw they saw Muhammad and Malvo, who fired the rifle? That races the question of possibly a third person being involved in at least this one shooting, which happened on September 21st. So the question is, is there another person still at large who may have been involved.

Another bit of speculation, and this is totally speculation, but at the time of this chase between the cop and Muhammad, the cop was brought up short by a blue car, which pulled in front of him. At the time, police thought that was just a coincidence, but of course we now have word that Mohammad and Malvo were arrested in that blue 1990 Chevy Caprice. A connection? Police still are not sure and are looking into that as well.

Meanwhile, of course, we've been watching word about this shooting in Baton Rouge, this one happened no September 23rd, two days after the shooting in Montgomery. Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana have issued arrest warrants yesterday for Muhammad and Malvo. This one happened outside a beauty supply business in Baton Rouge. Hong Ballenger was shot to death after closing the place up. Ballistic tests have confirmed that the gun that killed her was also the Bushmaster. Ballistics tests that backed that up as well.

That makes four states in which the two suspects are officially accused of murders. But there are questions circulating around the country, and of course, there are other cases, including in Tacoma, Washington, one murder and one shooting at a synagogue, which have been tentatively linked to weapons connected to Muhammad.

So this investigation continues, and the complexity of it continues to broaden. Martin, we may have to rename this one, because obviously we're not dealing any more with just a case of sniper shootings happening around the D.C. area.

SAVIDGE: No, it remains to be seen how far it will go. What is expected out of this news conference later?

MOLINEAUX: At the moment, it looks like we're just likely to get some elaboration on the evidence which has been trickling out over the past couple days about the ballistic tests.

It's sort of interesting, of course, this is a dramatic turnaround from what we had been saying earlier. Of course early ballistics tests failed to connect the shooting of the victim at the liquor store with the Bushmaster rifle, and only lately, have we discovered this. Keep in mind, the earlier tests were done before ATF investigators had the Bushmaster rifle to do test firings with. So they have more to work with, and the evidence has apparently come up a little bit differently this time and determined, yes, this was a case of that rifle shooting. If so, who did it? Was it perhaps somebody still on the loose, neither Malvo nor Muhammad.

SAVIDGE: Charles Molineaux, live from Montgomery, Alabama. Thanks very much.

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