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American Morning

More Details Beginning to Come About Backgrounds of Sniper Suspects

Aired October 25, 2002 - 08:19   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.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: More details are beginning to come in about the backgrounds of the sniper suspects. John Allen Muhammad was married and divorced twice. His first wife expressed surprise after learning about the arrests. His second wife, Mildred Green Williams Muhammad, knew him better. They were married for 12 years.
Michael Okwu is outside her home in Clinton, Maryland now with more of those details -- good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

According to public records, this two story townhouse you see just behind me is the last known address for John Muhammad. Now, it is very unclear as to whether he actually lived here, but we do know that Mildred does live here, along with the former couple's three children, her sister and her sister's husband.

Very recently, at least one neighbor saw him in the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Yes, I know I seen this guy before. You know, he looks awfully familiar, and my wife said the same thing. And then I realized, oh, man, I have seen him before, you know? He's been in this neighborhood. But I didn't know that, you know, his wife or anybody lived here. I just seen him in this neighborhood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Now, his presence in the area obviously raises a lot of questions. Was he trying to see Mildred again? Was he simply stalking her? Or was he trying to get close to his son and his two daughters?

Now, actually, Mildred Muhammad had filed an order of protection against her former husband after he had abducted the children and taken them out of the country. And, in fact, in her divorce papers she actually called him abusive.

Now, neighbors here say that in the last week or so, specifically on Tuesday, they saw unarmed police cars in the area. So very clear that by Tuesday authorities were certainly sniffing John Allen Muhammad out.

Authorities, it's also very interesting, Paula, because according to more court papers, Mildred Muhammad said that her former husband was a gun enthusiast who could make a weapon out of anything -- Paula.

ZAHN: Oh, that just makes me sick. I'm thinking as you're saying that about a report in the "New York Times" this morning that, where they questioned how this guy could get a gun in the first place. I mean you mentioned this domestic protective order, which I guess became a permanent order. And if that had been in place, technically since, I guess it was march of 2000, he shouldn't have been able to buy a gun.

OKWU: That is so true. But, in fact, when you talk to gun specialists here and gun owners, and that's something that I've been doing for the past three weeks, it seems, they will tell you, because they're very proud of their guns. They say that people, most people who use their guns, of course, are very responsible people. And they make the point that the people who are most likely to make, to make crime out of handling guns are people who actually get the guns illegally.

So of course prosecutors will be looking into finding out how he actually got his hands on these guns. Perhaps he got it on the black market somewhere or got it from somebody who was, you know, had really bad intentions -- Paula.

ZAHN: Michael Okwu, thanks.

It's just so fascinating as these details just start coming at us and so many of them are so disparate. It'll be interesting to see when any of us can put the pieces of this puzzle together.

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




Suspects>


Aired October 25, 2002 - 08:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: More details are beginning to come in about the backgrounds of the sniper suspects. John Allen Muhammad was married and divorced twice. His first wife expressed surprise after learning about the arrests. His second wife, Mildred Green Williams Muhammad, knew him better. They were married for 12 years.
Michael Okwu is outside her home in Clinton, Maryland now with more of those details -- good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

According to public records, this two story townhouse you see just behind me is the last known address for John Muhammad. Now, it is very unclear as to whether he actually lived here, but we do know that Mildred does live here, along with the former couple's three children, her sister and her sister's husband.

Very recently, at least one neighbor saw him in the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Yes, I know I seen this guy before. You know, he looks awfully familiar, and my wife said the same thing. And then I realized, oh, man, I have seen him before, you know? He's been in this neighborhood. But I didn't know that, you know, his wife or anybody lived here. I just seen him in this neighborhood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OKWU: Now, his presence in the area obviously raises a lot of questions. Was he trying to see Mildred again? Was he simply stalking her? Or was he trying to get close to his son and his two daughters?

Now, actually, Mildred Muhammad had filed an order of protection against her former husband after he had abducted the children and taken them out of the country. And, in fact, in her divorce papers she actually called him abusive.

Now, neighbors here say that in the last week or so, specifically on Tuesday, they saw unarmed police cars in the area. So very clear that by Tuesday authorities were certainly sniffing John Allen Muhammad out.

Authorities, it's also very interesting, Paula, because according to more court papers, Mildred Muhammad said that her former husband was a gun enthusiast who could make a weapon out of anything -- Paula.

ZAHN: Oh, that just makes me sick. I'm thinking as you're saying that about a report in the "New York Times" this morning that, where they questioned how this guy could get a gun in the first place. I mean you mentioned this domestic protective order, which I guess became a permanent order. And if that had been in place, technically since, I guess it was march of 2000, he shouldn't have been able to buy a gun.

OKWU: That is so true. But, in fact, when you talk to gun specialists here and gun owners, and that's something that I've been doing for the past three weeks, it seems, they will tell you, because they're very proud of their guns. They say that people, most people who use their guns, of course, are very responsible people. And they make the point that the people who are most likely to make, to make crime out of handling guns are people who actually get the guns illegally.

So of course prosecutors will be looking into finding out how he actually got his hands on these guns. Perhaps he got it on the black market somewhere or got it from somebody who was, you know, had really bad intentions -- Paula.

ZAHN: Michael Okwu, thanks.

It's just so fascinating as these details just start coming at us and so many of them are so disparate. It'll be interesting to see when any of us can put the pieces of this puzzle together.

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




Suspects>