"All of our resources are available to … apprehend the perpetrator of these vicious crimes," said Ashcroft

TOKYO, October 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - All available law enforcement resources were being deployed to catch the sniper terrorizing the Washington area, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday, October 22.

"The killing is unacceptable and all of our resources are available to disrupt his activity and apprehend the perpetrator of these vicious crimes," Ashcroft said at a press conference at the end of a two-day visit to Tokyo, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The matter of the sniper and the very serious problems presented by the killings is a matter of very deep concern to [U.S. President George W.] Bush administration," he said.

The mystery terrorist has killed nine people and wounded three since October 2, firing a single shot each time from the same weapon, possibly a hunting or military-type rifle.

Asked about a possible lack of coordination and communication problems between the various federal law enforcement agencies and the local police, Ashcroft insisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was fully cooperating.

"From the outset the FBI and other federal authorities have provided virtually all the resources that would be necessary and appropriate and could be used effectively," he said.

The FBI had committed hundreds of officers and technological assistance to the investigation, he said.

"I believe we are operating effectively and appropriately in the current setting."
"We know of no additional value that can be brought to the investigation that we are not providing, but we are always willing to consider how we might better move this investigation towards a successful conclusion."

Meanwhile, two undocumented men, grabbed Monday in a raid by federal agents and police searching for the sniper, were cleared and released into the custody of immigration officials, police said, reported AFP.

"Two men were detained and questioned by local and federal authorities and turned over to representatives of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for further action.

"No local charges have been placed," command sergeant Tom Shumate of the Henrico County, Virginia police said. Local media reported that the pair were undocumented and could be deported.

The pair had been swarmed by heavily-armed federal agents and police after one of them made a call from a telephone that the suspected sniper may have used the night before.

One man was driving a white van that loosely fit the description given by witnesses to the shootings. The two were questioned by police who determined that they were not connected with the shooter.

On Monday, October 21, criminal experts said that the sniper may be mentally ill and may have a message for the world, but is no great marksman.

"He's a disturbed person and he thinks he has the power of life and death at his fingertips," said Charles Bahn, professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

"It could have been a fantasy [of his to be] identified as a sniper," Bahn said. Investigators said the shootings have similarities, including the use of .223 caliber bullets recovered by police. The shooter has picked off victims going about their daily activities in the shooting spree that began October 2.

"The randomization of victims, the inclusion of a school boy among people he shot at, all reflect a certain kind of planning and a deliberate unnerving of people in an entire district in the United States," Bahn said, because everyone has an equal chance of being the next victim.

The shooter is "more fortunate than good," said Arnett Gaston, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Maryland.

"If you just randomly pick victims, that doesn't take a lot of intellect," he said.

"Is this some intelligent design? We won't know that until he's caught," he added.

But criminal experts agreed the terrorist need not be "crazy."

Experts could not speculate on a motive, but all said the shooter wants to show he is powerful, pointing to his first message: "Mr. Policeman, I am God."

"He tries to show he is in command, is superior and he tends to taunt police and gives the impression that he can do things with relative impunity," Gaston said. However, that does not do the killer much good if no one knows who he is.

"So they usually try to contact the police. This is another level of the expression of power," Gaston said. That is why the killer is unlikely to just give up and go home, Gaston said.

"Power is pretty much like a narcotic," he said, and the killer will continue to need larger doses, based on knowledge of previous cases.

"Usually spree killers commit suicide or shoot it out with police," said criminology professor Michael Rustigan at San Francisco State University.

"Most of them in my experience don't want to go to prison, don't want to be taken alive. I doubt that he will turn himself in voluntarily." Police are doing a good job, say the experts.

"They are trying to balance the need to give the public information [and] to make the public feel the police are doing all they can to catch the guy.

"That's very difficult to do with media interest," said Northeastern University criminal justice professor Jack McDevitt.

For many, the attacks in the Fredericksburg, Virginia, area were close enough. Ashland is just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Massaponax, where a Pennsylvania man was slain October 11.

"I had a feeling they were coming our way," said Veronica Nuckols, manager of a day care center in Mechanicsville, Virginia. "We're so close."

"I'm not surprised," said Charles Waldrup, assistant manager at a grocery store in Ashland, located about a kilometer (mile) from where Saturday's attack took place. "Coming down [Interstate] 95, you've got perfect access."

Residents of the area were getting jumpy even before the weekend. On Wednesday, a rumor that a shooting had taken place at a shopping mall in Glen Allen, Virginia – a few kilometers (miles) south of Ashland and conveniently situated near Interstate 95, Interstate 295 and U.S. Route 1 – caused panic among students at a local community college.

"I think everybody is a little on edge," Nuckols said, adding that she "didn't want to get gas, to go to the store."

"I'm nervous, but I'm also angry that we have to take these extra precautions, be nervous and change our way of life," she said.

The violence in the United States has inspired a gunman in Turkey to copycat the Washington sniper as he slightly injured "several people" with shots from an air rifle.

Turkish police have set up a special team to capture the gunman, Yahya Gur, the governor of Ankara told Anatolia news agency on Monday, October 22.

"This is about a person who is mentally deranged," Gur said. "The events in the U.S. have really touched him."

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