1 00:00:06,006 --> 00:00:09,718 [somber orchestral music playing] 2 00:00:09,801 --> 00:00:12,053 [caller 1] Oh my God. A man is dead on Aspen Hill Road. 3 00:00:12,137 --> 00:00:14,431 -[operator 1] What? Ma'am? -[caller 1] Oh my God. This is-- 4 00:00:14,514 --> 00:00:18,059 [operator 1] Ma'am, listen to me! What is wrong? 5 00:00:18,143 --> 00:00:20,353 [caller 1] A man has been killed in front of me. 6 00:00:20,437 --> 00:00:21,980 [tense music playing] 7 00:00:22,063 --> 00:00:25,191 [cop on radio] We have one down. There's blood all over. I'm at the Mobil-- 8 00:00:25,275 --> 00:00:30,113 This was not a static scene. It certainly wasn't secure. 9 00:00:30,196 --> 00:00:31,698 [sirens wailing] 10 00:00:32,323 --> 00:00:35,452 [officer] So I went to my trunk and put on a ballistic vest. 11 00:00:37,245 --> 00:00:41,708 If there's a shooter out here, you know, we can't do our job if we get shot. 12 00:00:43,835 --> 00:00:44,961 [gun cocks] 13 00:00:46,379 --> 00:00:49,049 And then chaos erupted, literally. 14 00:00:49,883 --> 00:00:53,386 -[line ringing] -[operator 2] Montgomery County. 15 00:00:53,470 --> 00:00:55,305 [caller 2] Somebody's been shot on our back lot. 16 00:00:55,388 --> 00:00:58,349 [operator 3] We need an ambulance at the corner of Mills and Connecticut. 17 00:00:58,433 --> 00:01:00,935 Got blood coming out of her nose and her mouth. 18 00:01:01,019 --> 00:01:02,812 [officer] There was that feeling. 19 00:01:02,896 --> 00:01:05,065 Not so much, "When's it gonna stop?" but, "Where's next?" 20 00:01:05,148 --> 00:01:06,191 [operator 4] 911. 21 00:01:06,274 --> 00:01:08,068 [caller 3] We're not sure if he was shot. 22 00:01:08,151 --> 00:01:10,070 [caller 4] We had a lady shot in our parking lot. 23 00:01:10,153 --> 00:01:11,529 [caller 5] Oh, I'm scared. 24 00:01:12,238 --> 00:01:15,408 I thought, "Oh boy. This is just gonna be hell." 25 00:01:16,159 --> 00:01:18,745 -[sounds fade] -[somber theme music playing] 26 00:01:33,551 --> 00:01:35,470 [theme music fades] 27 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:44,646 Good mornin'. 28 00:01:44,729 --> 00:01:50,485 I'm Terry Ryan, a retired police detective from Montgomery County, Maryland. 29 00:01:50,568 --> 00:01:53,321 [country music playing] 30 00:01:53,404 --> 00:01:55,240 [Ryan] My father was in television. 31 00:01:55,824 --> 00:02:00,620 He was in station management for one of the local broadcast facilities. 32 00:02:00,703 --> 00:02:04,457 And, um, he would go out to crime scenes. 33 00:02:08,169 --> 00:02:10,713 And he would often bring me along. 34 00:02:12,340 --> 00:02:16,845 I have early memories, maybe ten years old, hoppin' in the car 35 00:02:17,428 --> 00:02:20,431 and drivin' to a… a nearby event. 36 00:02:21,432 --> 00:02:23,518 [laughs] My buddies thought it was a little goofy. 37 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:29,399 That was kinda my introduction to homicide investigation. 38 00:02:31,901 --> 00:02:35,655 I was assigned to the department's major crimes division. 39 00:02:35,738 --> 00:02:40,827 I was in the homicides section there, um, when these events began to occur. 40 00:02:40,910 --> 00:02:44,205 And it was anything but a normal morning. 41 00:02:44,289 --> 00:02:46,291 [tense music playing] 42 00:02:50,712 --> 00:02:52,422 [Ryan] At the corner of Aspen Hill Road, 43 00:02:52,505 --> 00:02:56,134 which runs in and out of Washington, D.C., out to the suburbs. 44 00:02:57,302 --> 00:03:00,305 It was our rush hour, still, that morning. 45 00:03:00,388 --> 00:03:03,683 -[siren wailing] -[indistinct radio chatter] 46 00:03:03,766 --> 00:03:05,852 [indistinct chatter] 47 00:03:05,935 --> 00:03:08,938 [Ryan] There were several patrol officers already present. 48 00:03:09,814 --> 00:03:13,151 They had established a perimeter with crime scene tape. 49 00:03:14,944 --> 00:03:18,156 And also were interviewing folks that were standin' by. 50 00:03:19,908 --> 00:03:25,121 A bang was heard by a lady who was also getting gas at an adjacent gas pump. 51 00:03:26,497 --> 00:03:31,461 She heard the victim say, "I've been shot," as he dropped. 52 00:03:33,713 --> 00:03:39,344 No one sees anyone running. A person, a speeding vehicle. 53 00:03:39,427 --> 00:03:41,971 Nothing to suggest what might have occurred. 54 00:03:44,015 --> 00:03:47,435 We had a general idea where the shot may have come from, directionally, 55 00:03:47,518 --> 00:03:49,229 but you don't know if it came, at that point, 56 00:03:49,312 --> 00:03:51,189 from a moving vehicle passing by 57 00:03:51,272 --> 00:03:54,108 or from the shopping center across the street. 58 00:03:54,192 --> 00:03:56,069 [indistinct radio chatter] 59 00:03:56,152 --> 00:03:57,987 [siren wailing] 60 00:03:58,071 --> 00:04:00,073 [Ryan] I was lookin' for the projectile. 61 00:04:01,241 --> 00:04:02,659 Or a shell casing. 62 00:04:03,868 --> 00:04:06,621 And we didn't find anything. 63 00:04:09,082 --> 00:04:13,044 My supervisor at the time, uh, was Sergeant Roger Thomson. 64 00:04:13,127 --> 00:04:16,297 He ran the crew I was assigned to. Or squad. 65 00:04:16,381 --> 00:04:18,383 [calming country music playing] 66 00:04:21,803 --> 00:04:24,889 [Ryan] Roger's the best supervisor you could imagine having. 67 00:04:25,556 --> 00:04:27,016 You need to… 68 00:04:28,726 --> 00:04:31,020 -[assistant] We did that already. -You did that already? 69 00:04:31,104 --> 00:04:32,438 [Thomson and crew chuckle] 70 00:04:34,190 --> 00:04:36,693 [Thomson] Basically, I grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland. 71 00:04:36,776 --> 00:04:39,237 I went to school there, went to high school there. 72 00:04:39,904 --> 00:04:42,907 And then I worked there, uh, for the rest of my career. 73 00:04:44,033 --> 00:04:46,786 I was a police officer for 30 years. 74 00:04:48,288 --> 00:04:51,207 I was a detective for 20 years. 75 00:04:52,208 --> 00:04:55,545 And I really enjoyed being able to put the pieces together 76 00:04:55,628 --> 00:04:57,547 to try to figure out the puzzle. 77 00:04:59,215 --> 00:05:01,134 -[tense music playing] -[clock ticking] 78 00:05:01,217 --> 00:05:03,136 [siren wailing] 79 00:05:04,929 --> 00:05:09,934 When I got to the Mobil station, and Terry Ryan is tellin' me 80 00:05:10,018 --> 00:05:12,020 what has happened at the scene. 81 00:05:12,103 --> 00:05:13,604 [indistinct radio chatter] 82 00:05:14,397 --> 00:05:16,190 [cell phone ringing and vibrating] 83 00:05:16,274 --> 00:05:18,651 And then I received a phone call… 84 00:05:18,735 --> 00:05:20,737 [indistinct chatter] 85 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:24,407 …to tell me that we had another shooting. 86 00:05:24,490 --> 00:05:26,909 [ominous music playing] 87 00:05:26,993 --> 00:05:32,832 This woman was shot while she was sitting on a bench in front of a fast food store. 88 00:05:32,915 --> 00:05:35,084 -[gun fires] -[Thomson] Just a mile or so away. 89 00:05:36,502 --> 00:05:40,256 So I have two different crime scenes within a matter of minutes. 90 00:05:40,923 --> 00:05:42,133 Highly unusual. 91 00:05:43,092 --> 00:05:46,471 We don't have that many homicides in Montgomery County. 92 00:05:46,554 --> 00:05:49,098 [siren wailing] 93 00:05:49,182 --> 00:05:51,726 I'm thinkin' about, who else can I send? 94 00:05:51,809 --> 00:05:55,813 Because I've run out of people to send to the, uh… to the crime scene. 95 00:05:57,982 --> 00:06:00,818 I was on a cell phone, talking with the commanders, 96 00:06:00,902 --> 00:06:03,237 talking with the… the people at both scenes. 97 00:06:03,321 --> 00:06:04,322 [chatter on phone] 98 00:06:04,405 --> 00:06:06,574 [Thomson] And then I receive a phone call 99 00:06:06,657 --> 00:06:09,327 from an investigator who's down at the hospital 100 00:06:09,410 --> 00:06:15,541 to update me that a possible accident that he's on is actually a shooting. 101 00:06:15,625 --> 00:06:18,127 [sinister music playing] 102 00:06:19,045 --> 00:06:24,926 The victim was mowin' a lawn, and he was shot in broad daylight. 103 00:06:25,009 --> 00:06:26,552 Just like the other people. 104 00:06:28,971 --> 00:06:32,100 So, now we have three murder victims. 105 00:06:32,183 --> 00:06:36,604 And we had no eyewitnesses as to where this, uh, shooter was. 106 00:06:36,687 --> 00:06:38,147 [indistinct radio chatter] 107 00:06:38,231 --> 00:06:41,526 [Ryan] We got a problem. What the hell's really goin' on? 108 00:06:42,652 --> 00:06:44,904 We're all faced with somethin' we hadn't dealt with before. 109 00:06:45,613 --> 00:06:49,700 I was somewhat fearful of, uh, maybe getting shot while I was there. 110 00:06:49,784 --> 00:06:52,078 I didn't know where the shooting was coming from. 111 00:06:52,161 --> 00:06:53,913 Roger had kinda seen it all. 112 00:06:54,747 --> 00:07:00,753 But I could sense just from his eyes… he had a different vibe goin' on. 113 00:07:01,337 --> 00:07:02,213 Intense. 114 00:07:02,296 --> 00:07:04,465 [siren wailing] 115 00:07:04,549 --> 00:07:07,176 [Ryan] Each supervisor up the chain of command, 116 00:07:07,260 --> 00:07:08,803 they're all comin' at Roger. 117 00:07:09,846 --> 00:07:10,888 "What do you know?" 118 00:07:10,972 --> 00:07:15,435 And he's kinda in a situation he hasn't been in too often. 119 00:07:15,518 --> 00:07:16,853 There's very little to tell. 120 00:07:16,936 --> 00:07:19,063 [somber music playing] 121 00:07:20,857 --> 00:07:22,191 We have no witnesses. 122 00:07:23,234 --> 00:07:27,071 Everybody heard the gun going off, but nobody saw it. 123 00:07:28,281 --> 00:07:30,158 Your adrenaline's goin' all the time. 124 00:07:30,241 --> 00:07:33,286 And tryin' to keep your adrenaline from… from taking over. 125 00:07:34,370 --> 00:07:38,791 You're trying to keep from losing your mind, basically. 126 00:07:39,417 --> 00:07:41,335 [clock ticking] 127 00:07:41,419 --> 00:07:43,796 [tense music playing] 128 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:45,882 [helicopter blades whirring] 129 00:07:48,468 --> 00:07:50,219 [reporter] He's got it. Go handheld, Doug. 130 00:07:50,303 --> 00:07:56,476 [Thomson] Now we have a steady stream of reporters, cameramen coming down. 131 00:07:56,559 --> 00:07:57,477 Take a look behind me. 132 00:07:57,560 --> 00:07:59,937 This is the gas station, the Mobil gas station. 133 00:08:00,021 --> 00:08:01,230 Where the shooting happened… 134 00:08:01,314 --> 00:08:04,984 We're trying to keep them away from these crime scenes, but it's difficult 135 00:08:05,067 --> 00:08:07,069 because you don't have enough personnel to do that. 136 00:08:07,153 --> 00:08:08,321 [helicopter blades whirring] 137 00:08:08,404 --> 00:08:11,115 [reporter 1] Breaking news right now. Investigators continue to… 138 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:13,618 [reporter 2] …to link three shootings in Montgomery County. 139 00:08:13,701 --> 00:08:16,162 A man pumping gas, a woman sitting at a bench… 140 00:08:16,245 --> 00:08:18,331 [Thomson] There were more news reporters and cameramen 141 00:08:18,414 --> 00:08:20,583 than there were police officers. 142 00:08:20,666 --> 00:08:22,793 [siren wailing] 143 00:08:22,877 --> 00:08:26,255 And honestly, it made it a little more difficult 144 00:08:26,339 --> 00:08:27,340 for us to do our job. 145 00:08:29,717 --> 00:08:31,010 [reporter] In Montgomery County, 146 00:08:31,093 --> 00:08:33,221 the shooter remains out there on the loose. 147 00:08:33,930 --> 00:08:39,560 It was tough to talk to your colleagues because the media, law enforcement 148 00:08:39,644 --> 00:08:43,523 all used the same wireless carrier at the time. 149 00:08:43,606 --> 00:08:47,527 -[feedback squeals] -And there was just so much radio traffic. 150 00:08:47,610 --> 00:08:49,737 [overlapping chatter on radios] 151 00:08:49,820 --> 00:08:51,864 -[radio beeps] -[chatter grows louder] 152 00:08:51,948 --> 00:08:53,866 -[clock ticking] -[chatter fades] 153 00:08:53,950 --> 00:08:55,326 [line ringing] 154 00:08:55,409 --> 00:08:56,911 [operator] 911, what's your emergency? 155 00:08:56,994 --> 00:09:00,456 [caller] Yeah. We need an ambulance at the corner of Mills and Connecticut. 156 00:09:01,207 --> 00:09:02,166 Here we go again. 157 00:09:02,250 --> 00:09:03,167 [siren wailing] 158 00:09:03,251 --> 00:09:07,922 There's been another shooting at a gas station a few miles away. 159 00:09:08,005 --> 00:09:08,965 [phone beeps] 160 00:09:09,048 --> 00:09:10,508 [line ringing] 161 00:09:10,591 --> 00:09:13,719 I called my mother because she frequented that gas station. 162 00:09:15,263 --> 00:09:19,267 And I told her not to go outside and not to go to any stores in the area. 163 00:09:19,350 --> 00:09:20,851 "Just don't leave the house." 164 00:09:23,271 --> 00:09:26,732 Roger approached me and… and said, 165 00:09:26,816 --> 00:09:31,279 "I hate to do this to you, but, um… there's another event." 166 00:09:32,154 --> 00:09:34,156 "We gotta get somebody down there. Will you go?" 167 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,826 [tense music playing] 168 00:09:40,997 --> 00:09:44,917 [Ryan] It was an incident involvin' a young woman in her 20s. A mother. 169 00:09:47,503 --> 00:09:50,548 Ms. Rivera was vacuuming her van, 170 00:09:50,631 --> 00:09:55,261 which was parked just beyond here at a coin vacuum that's still here. 171 00:09:58,472 --> 00:10:05,062 Mr. Rivera, uh, Lori Ann's husband, was contacted. 172 00:10:05,146 --> 00:10:07,148 [siren wailing] 173 00:10:07,231 --> 00:10:09,066 Uh, he came to the scene. 174 00:10:10,443 --> 00:10:12,820 I had to notify him of his wife's death. 175 00:10:15,698 --> 00:10:18,993 I could just see the emotion. I mean, he was grieving, himself. 176 00:10:24,165 --> 00:10:25,958 He said, "What do I tell my kid?" 177 00:10:34,050 --> 00:10:35,092 [Ryan sighs] 178 00:10:36,719 --> 00:10:38,596 I'm sorry. It's just, you know. It's… 179 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:39,930 [crying softly] 180 00:10:42,433 --> 00:10:43,893 [interviewer] Just take your time. 181 00:10:43,976 --> 00:10:45,895 I'm good. I'm good. 182 00:10:47,229 --> 00:10:49,231 [suspenseful music playing] 183 00:10:52,234 --> 00:10:53,694 [indistinct chatter] 184 00:10:53,778 --> 00:10:55,780 [phone ringing] 185 00:10:57,198 --> 00:11:00,284 [Thomson] I was glad I got to the office because I could sit down 186 00:11:00,368 --> 00:11:02,828 and try to get things pieced together. 187 00:11:04,205 --> 00:11:06,707 I'd be able to take all the information I had 188 00:11:06,791 --> 00:11:08,834 and try to make some kind of sense out of it. 189 00:11:10,878 --> 00:11:14,340 We get information from the night shift 190 00:11:14,423 --> 00:11:17,677 about another shooting that happened the night before. 191 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:19,804 [ominous music playing] 192 00:11:20,930 --> 00:11:26,560 [Thomson] Right around 6:00 p.m., um, Mr. Martin was shot at a shopping center. 193 00:11:27,478 --> 00:11:32,692 And of course, once again, there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting. None. 194 00:11:34,777 --> 00:11:37,071 [ominous music fades] 195 00:11:37,154 --> 00:11:39,281 I know that I have five shootings. 196 00:11:39,365 --> 00:11:40,866 [indistinct chatter continues] 197 00:11:40,950 --> 00:11:42,993 [tense music playing] 198 00:11:43,077 --> 00:11:45,955 [Thomson] The night before, Mr. Martin was shot. 199 00:11:47,456 --> 00:11:52,253 The following morning, the very first shooting was Mr. Buchanan. 200 00:11:53,671 --> 00:11:55,840 Witnesses heard a loud bang. 201 00:11:56,507 --> 00:12:00,177 They thought his lawnmower had exploded and hit him. 202 00:12:02,138 --> 00:12:04,140 I've got Walekar shot at the Mobil station. 203 00:12:06,726 --> 00:12:10,813 Sarah Ramos is shot at the shopping center 204 00:12:10,896 --> 00:12:14,108 just north of where Mr. Walekar was shot. 205 00:12:15,443 --> 00:12:20,406 Then poor Rivera was shot at the Shell station. 206 00:12:24,452 --> 00:12:28,330 Generally, there's some kind of connection between a victim 207 00:12:28,914 --> 00:12:30,374 and the suspect. 208 00:12:32,585 --> 00:12:36,297 Do they all work at the same place? Do they all live in the same place? 209 00:12:37,173 --> 00:12:38,674 Did they all have a confrontation 210 00:12:38,758 --> 00:12:41,552 with just the one person who's the shooter? 211 00:12:43,387 --> 00:12:46,140 So you have to go and talk to the victim's family 212 00:12:46,223 --> 00:12:49,018 to see whether or not there is some kind of connection. 213 00:12:50,311 --> 00:12:53,189 'Cause that's what your main goal is as a detective. 214 00:12:53,272 --> 00:12:56,150 You're trying to get those pieces together like a puzzle. 215 00:13:00,613 --> 00:13:03,324 We're tryin' to gather a lot of information, 216 00:13:03,407 --> 00:13:06,076 and my commander told me 217 00:13:06,827 --> 00:13:09,455 that he was gonna be in charge of the investigation. 218 00:13:09,538 --> 00:13:11,707 [indistinct chatter] 219 00:13:11,791 --> 00:13:13,793 [Thomson] The FBI was involved. 220 00:13:14,835 --> 00:13:16,295 ATF was involved. 221 00:13:16,921 --> 00:13:22,760 And so it was somewhat of a relief that all this pressure 222 00:13:22,843 --> 00:13:25,095 was reduced and was going to somebody else. 223 00:13:25,179 --> 00:13:27,181 [tense music playing] 224 00:13:28,057 --> 00:13:29,016 [man grunts] 225 00:13:30,935 --> 00:13:31,769 Hi. 226 00:13:32,770 --> 00:13:34,605 [interviewer] Let's start on October 3rd, 227 00:13:34,688 --> 00:13:37,566 and we can pick some of the earlier stuff up later. 228 00:13:37,650 --> 00:13:40,027 My brain doesn't go backwards. 229 00:13:40,110 --> 00:13:42,988 It's just forward. It's all compartmentalized. 230 00:13:44,073 --> 00:13:45,783 [laughs] 231 00:13:45,866 --> 00:13:47,117 My name is Michael Bouchard. 232 00:13:47,201 --> 00:13:50,871 I was the special agent in charge of the Baltimore Field Division. 233 00:13:50,955 --> 00:13:54,500 Um, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. 234 00:13:54,583 --> 00:13:57,586 One of my duties as the agent in charge of the field division 235 00:13:57,670 --> 00:13:59,213 was to deal with the media. 236 00:13:59,296 --> 00:14:01,298 [indistinct chatter] 237 00:14:03,467 --> 00:14:04,927 [Bouchard] When I first arrived, 238 00:14:05,010 --> 00:14:09,765 I'd say there were probably 50 to 60 media people, 239 00:14:09,849 --> 00:14:11,892 all stationed outside police headquarters. 240 00:14:13,102 --> 00:14:15,396 I certainly didn't look forward to doing it, 241 00:14:16,272 --> 00:14:18,649 particularly under these type of circumstances. 242 00:14:18,732 --> 00:14:21,777 But you're in the D.C. area. It's the fishbowl. 243 00:14:21,861 --> 00:14:24,947 Whatever you do here, people are always looking in. 244 00:14:25,030 --> 00:14:28,701 [reporter 1] Agent, which agency has operational command of this investigation? 245 00:14:28,784 --> 00:14:30,786 [Bouchard] So, they were askin' a lot of questions. 246 00:14:30,870 --> 00:14:31,996 [Bouchard] None of this… 247 00:14:32,079 --> 00:14:33,163 [reporter 2] …not dealt… 248 00:14:33,247 --> 00:14:36,166 We didn't have many witness statements, and we didn't really know 249 00:14:36,250 --> 00:14:38,210 exactly what we were looking for. 250 00:14:38,294 --> 00:14:40,713 So there was not much to release to the press. 251 00:14:40,796 --> 00:14:42,923 I can't respond to that question. I'm sorry. 252 00:14:43,007 --> 00:14:44,425 [reporter 3] Agent Bouchard-- 253 00:14:44,508 --> 00:14:45,342 [Bouchard] Thank you. 254 00:14:45,426 --> 00:14:46,427 [camera shutter clicks] 255 00:14:50,848 --> 00:14:54,602 The most significant evidence that we had were the ballistics. 256 00:14:54,685 --> 00:14:56,228 [tense music playing] 257 00:14:56,312 --> 00:14:59,231 [Bouchard] The bullet that was taken from each of the victims. 258 00:14:59,315 --> 00:15:00,858 [camera shutter clicks] 259 00:15:01,817 --> 00:15:04,820 These projectiles were taken to the ATF Laboratory. 260 00:15:06,113 --> 00:15:08,198 A mile or two from police headquarters. 261 00:15:11,368 --> 00:15:15,873 And I was confident with Walter Dandridge, who worked, uh, in our laboratory. 262 00:15:15,956 --> 00:15:17,917 [calming music playing] 263 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,960 [Bouchard] He was a top-notch forensics examiner. 264 00:15:20,044 --> 00:15:22,171 Probably one of the best in the country. 265 00:15:23,005 --> 00:15:25,299 I do remember Mike Bouchard. 266 00:15:25,382 --> 00:15:27,009 He's one of those bigwigs 267 00:15:27,092 --> 00:15:30,971 that we low-level government workers don't come in contact with so often. 268 00:15:32,181 --> 00:15:33,515 [laughs] 269 00:15:34,099 --> 00:15:38,312 [Bouchard] He's just a humble guy. Just does his job, grinds away. 270 00:15:38,395 --> 00:15:40,105 Solves a lot of good cases. 271 00:15:41,148 --> 00:15:44,026 [energetic music playing] 272 00:15:44,109 --> 00:15:46,487 [Dandridge] This was an ongoing situation. 273 00:15:47,363 --> 00:15:52,201 The pressure was building, and they wanted answers immediately. 274 00:15:54,536 --> 00:15:58,165 The first projectile and fragments that I received, 275 00:15:58,248 --> 00:16:02,836 I determined that it was fired from a rifle. 276 00:16:04,505 --> 00:16:10,636 It was a caliber .223, Remington projectile. 277 00:16:12,638 --> 00:16:16,100 Each projectile fired from a single firearm 278 00:16:16,183 --> 00:16:18,769 will leave the same individual marks. 279 00:16:21,021 --> 00:16:26,235 I was able to determine that each one of the shootings the first day… 280 00:16:27,736 --> 00:16:30,280 were fired by the same firearm. 281 00:16:30,781 --> 00:16:32,241 [suspenseful music playing] 282 00:16:37,454 --> 00:16:39,373 [Bouchard] This was a big break for us. 283 00:16:40,958 --> 00:16:43,293 Because once we knew a rifle was being used 284 00:16:43,377 --> 00:16:45,462 in those Montgomery County shootings, 285 00:16:45,546 --> 00:16:47,798 we felt we were dealing with a sniper. 286 00:16:50,759 --> 00:16:53,554 Meaning someone shooting from a long distance, 287 00:16:54,221 --> 00:16:56,432 and you can't see where they're shooting from. 288 00:16:57,850 --> 00:17:02,187 That meant that the shots were being taken from a good distance away. 289 00:17:02,271 --> 00:17:06,066 You know, probably more than 50 to 100 feet, if not more. 290 00:17:08,277 --> 00:17:11,363 And so, the detectives expanded the search area. 291 00:17:12,531 --> 00:17:14,199 We're looking for, uh, witnesses. 292 00:17:14,283 --> 00:17:16,785 [tense music playing] 293 00:17:16,869 --> 00:17:20,080 At the Mobil station, uh, there was, uh… a witness 294 00:17:20,789 --> 00:17:24,376 that had seen a white box truck across the street. 295 00:17:25,753 --> 00:17:28,839 The witnesses at the Sarah Ramos shooting, 296 00:17:29,423 --> 00:17:33,093 they saw a white box truck leave the area rapidly. 297 00:17:34,470 --> 00:17:38,098 Maybe the reason why this gunshot is so loud 298 00:17:38,182 --> 00:17:43,520 is because it's reverberating from the back of the white box truck. 299 00:17:46,065 --> 00:17:50,402 Maybe the person is lifting the gate, takin' a shot, and then closing the gate. 300 00:17:50,903 --> 00:17:55,908 So that's why we don't have any, uh, eyewitnesses who actually saw the suspect. 301 00:17:56,408 --> 00:17:58,327 [clock ticking] 302 00:17:58,410 --> 00:18:01,330 [ominous music playing] 303 00:18:01,413 --> 00:18:05,292 -[sirens wailing] -[horns honking in distance] 304 00:18:06,502 --> 00:18:10,506 [Bouchard] By the end of that first day, we were all pretty much worn out. 305 00:18:11,882 --> 00:18:15,052 I know I personally thought, "I just hope this is over." 306 00:18:15,552 --> 00:18:18,305 You know, "We can solve what already occurred." 307 00:18:18,388 --> 00:18:20,015 [somber music playing] 308 00:18:20,099 --> 00:18:23,435 [Thomson] It was in the evening. We get a phone call. 309 00:18:23,519 --> 00:18:27,523 Another shooting took place in Washington, D.C. 310 00:18:28,273 --> 00:18:31,276 Just over the Washington, D.C., line with Montgomery County. 311 00:18:34,071 --> 00:18:36,824 He wasn't robbed. Nobody saw anybody. 312 00:18:38,117 --> 00:18:40,619 It was surreal. 313 00:18:40,702 --> 00:18:45,374 Uh, how could this still be happening, um, and what is the connection? 314 00:18:46,083 --> 00:18:50,045 [reporter] In little more than a day, six bullets, six murders. 315 00:18:52,422 --> 00:18:54,424 [somber music playing] 316 00:19:00,013 --> 00:19:05,686 The next day, the media had begun to, uh, almost camp out. 317 00:19:07,604 --> 00:19:10,732 Not just out on the street, in front of police headquarters. 318 00:19:10,816 --> 00:19:12,651 They were in our parking lot. 319 00:19:13,569 --> 00:19:17,489 They're approaching us as we walk out our door. 320 00:19:20,576 --> 00:19:23,453 He will hold another press briefing here at six o'clock tonight. 321 00:19:23,537 --> 00:19:25,038 Perhaps he'll have more information. 322 00:19:26,582 --> 00:19:29,918 [Ryan] You can't explain what happened. We couldn't explain it. 323 00:19:30,419 --> 00:19:31,753 Not at that point. 324 00:19:33,589 --> 00:19:38,969 The media had this all over television, radio, uh, the print media. 325 00:19:41,763 --> 00:19:46,101 And a decision is made with the police chief 326 00:19:46,185 --> 00:19:50,814 to put out to the public that we were seeking somebody in a white box truck. 327 00:19:51,690 --> 00:19:53,442 [officer] It's a Ford Econovan. 328 00:19:53,942 --> 00:19:56,778 [Ryan] We knew we couldn't solve this case without the media. 329 00:19:57,279 --> 00:19:59,990 The public, they were our eyes and ears. 330 00:20:00,782 --> 00:20:02,075 Please take a look at these. 331 00:20:02,159 --> 00:20:04,494 And if you know anybody that drives one of these vehicles… 332 00:20:04,578 --> 00:20:06,330 [Bouchard] Keep this in the back of your mind. 333 00:20:06,413 --> 00:20:08,790 If you saw something like this, call us. 334 00:20:08,874 --> 00:20:11,668 If you should see something in the future, call us. 335 00:20:12,169 --> 00:20:15,839 [reporter] White delivery trucks are being stopped and examined… 336 00:20:15,923 --> 00:20:19,676 [Thomson] We started to receive a lot of phone calls. 337 00:20:20,761 --> 00:20:23,639 They saw a white box truck at this intersection. 338 00:20:23,722 --> 00:20:26,225 They saw a white box truck at that intersection. 339 00:20:26,308 --> 00:20:29,019 These are all in shopping centers and gas stations. 340 00:20:30,646 --> 00:20:35,859 But no information that connected any driver with any of our shootings. 341 00:20:37,069 --> 00:20:38,570 [clock ticking] 342 00:20:38,654 --> 00:20:41,031 [line ringing] 343 00:20:41,114 --> 00:20:42,991 [operator] 911. What's your emergency? 344 00:20:43,075 --> 00:20:45,077 [caller] We've had a lady shot in our parking lot. 345 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:47,454 -[operator] Is she breathing? -[caller] I do not know. 346 00:20:52,709 --> 00:20:54,336 [Bouchard] The shooting of Caroline Seawell 347 00:20:54,419 --> 00:20:56,171 in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, 348 00:20:56,672 --> 00:20:59,383 changed the scope of this investigation significantly. 349 00:21:00,467 --> 00:21:03,220 Now we had different jurisdictions involved. 350 00:21:06,223 --> 00:21:11,770 The speculation is that the shooter, or shooters, are now going mobile. 351 00:21:12,854 --> 00:21:15,232 And are gonna target people in different areas. 352 00:21:18,318 --> 00:21:19,820 What's the motive here? 353 00:21:22,322 --> 00:21:24,491 Because they appeared to be random shootings, 354 00:21:24,574 --> 00:21:29,579 how do you stay one step ahead and try and figure out where they might go next? 355 00:21:31,498 --> 00:21:33,667 Till we find out what the motive is, um, 356 00:21:33,750 --> 00:21:35,752 we're gonna have a tough time solving this case. 357 00:21:35,836 --> 00:21:37,838 [tense music playing] 358 00:21:42,551 --> 00:21:45,971 So, we decided to expand the task force. 359 00:21:54,688 --> 00:21:56,315 [assistant] A little bit closer. 360 00:21:56,398 --> 00:21:57,691 Takin' my nose? 361 00:21:57,774 --> 00:22:00,110 [assistant] April Carol interview. Take two. Mark. 362 00:22:01,278 --> 00:22:03,739 I was home and my phone rang, 363 00:22:03,822 --> 00:22:06,074 and my supervisor said, "Are you sitting down?" 364 00:22:06,158 --> 00:22:08,744 And I said, "Sure, what's up?" 365 00:22:08,827 --> 00:22:14,124 And she said, "I have to assign you to the sniper case." 366 00:22:14,207 --> 00:22:16,209 [tense music playing] 367 00:22:18,670 --> 00:22:21,673 [Carroll] My family and I had just moved to Washington, D.C. 368 00:22:23,216 --> 00:22:26,094 This was the first and only time I'd had a woman as a supervisor, 369 00:22:26,178 --> 00:22:29,765 who also was a mom, and she said to me, "Are you sure you can do this?" 370 00:22:30,557 --> 00:22:33,935 "I know you have your kids and you're just getting settled." 371 00:22:34,478 --> 00:22:38,482 And I said that I had just found a nanny and that we would make it work. 372 00:22:38,565 --> 00:22:40,567 [tense music building] 373 00:22:42,486 --> 00:22:44,571 "Put me in, coach. I'm… I'm ready." 374 00:22:44,654 --> 00:22:45,947 [tense music ends] 375 00:22:48,575 --> 00:22:52,329 [Carroll] I'm home, having breakfast and coffee, getting ready to go to work. 376 00:22:52,412 --> 00:22:53,497 [reporter] Breaking news. 377 00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:56,500 A 13-year-old boy is in critical condition. Hundreds… 378 00:22:56,583 --> 00:23:00,587 It was just this overwhelming, sickening feeling like, "Oh my God." 379 00:23:00,670 --> 00:23:02,047 [reporter] …for a sharpshooter… 380 00:23:02,130 --> 00:23:06,093 A kid was now shot, completely innocent, at school. 381 00:23:07,219 --> 00:23:09,471 It's stepping over the line, shooting a kid. 382 00:23:11,473 --> 00:23:14,267 I guess it's getting to be really, really personal now. 383 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,145 [Carroll] It just really hit home for me, 384 00:23:17,229 --> 00:23:19,856 the fact that, being the mother of three boys, 385 00:23:19,940 --> 00:23:22,359 and realizing schools really weren't safe. 386 00:23:23,985 --> 00:23:25,487 Could this happen to my kid? 387 00:23:27,072 --> 00:23:29,533 [tense music playing] 388 00:23:29,616 --> 00:23:34,413 It solidified in my mind that the shooter realized 389 00:23:34,496 --> 00:23:36,957 the type of fear that they were creating throughout the area. 390 00:23:37,958 --> 00:23:39,584 That people were scared to death 391 00:23:39,668 --> 00:23:43,338 and that they wanted to take it to a new level by shooting a child. 392 00:23:44,673 --> 00:23:47,175 And see what the reaction of the public would be. 393 00:23:47,676 --> 00:23:50,053 [phone ringing] 394 00:23:50,137 --> 00:23:51,847 [Carroll] After the Iran Brown shooting, 395 00:23:51,930 --> 00:23:56,935 the level of emotional commitment and intensity was at an all-time high. 396 00:23:58,311 --> 00:24:01,022 You don't want to go off shift. You don't want to take a break. 397 00:24:01,106 --> 00:24:04,484 This case is full-time, 24/7, until they're caught. 398 00:24:05,819 --> 00:24:07,946 [reporter] If you have any information about this case, 399 00:24:08,029 --> 00:24:10,824 you are urged to call the tip line. The number is 240… 400 00:24:10,907 --> 00:24:17,330 So as soon as we put the number out there, it just lit off a firestorm of calls. 401 00:24:17,414 --> 00:24:20,500 -[phones ringing] -[overlapping chatter] 402 00:24:20,584 --> 00:24:24,754 [Carroll] We had 100 phones with 100 employees, 403 00:24:25,255 --> 00:24:26,756 from all the agencies, 404 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,177 taking those tips and putting them into the system for processing. 405 00:24:31,803 --> 00:24:33,805 My job was to go through the tips 406 00:24:33,889 --> 00:24:37,225 and decide, based on things we've learned to date, 407 00:24:37,309 --> 00:24:39,644 which were priority leads. 408 00:24:39,728 --> 00:24:42,856 And that was a lot of pressure because you didn't wanna miss anything. 409 00:24:42,939 --> 00:24:44,900 [overlapping chatter] 410 00:24:45,859 --> 00:24:50,489 I didn't know what I was looking for. And quite frankly, it's a lot of instinct. 411 00:24:50,572 --> 00:24:52,574 [ominous music playing] 412 00:25:01,416 --> 00:25:03,502 [Carroll] In a serial case, it had been my experience 413 00:25:03,585 --> 00:25:07,130 that the subjects attend the press conferences. 414 00:25:07,631 --> 00:25:09,216 They come back to the scene of the crime. 415 00:25:09,299 --> 00:25:11,551 They watch law enforcement doing what they're doing. 416 00:25:13,637 --> 00:25:17,557 And so, we would play back the video of that press conference, 417 00:25:18,350 --> 00:25:21,144 looking for anyone acting suspiciously. 418 00:25:21,228 --> 00:25:23,563 -[tense music playing] -[player whirs] 419 00:25:25,273 --> 00:25:28,944 We were all very aware that the killer could be among us. 420 00:25:33,281 --> 00:25:36,159 [player whirs] 421 00:25:37,118 --> 00:25:40,455 A person was seen in the video after the press conference, 422 00:25:40,539 --> 00:25:41,915 walking up to the podium 423 00:25:41,998 --> 00:25:46,419 and just rifling through the papers Chief Moose had left behind. 424 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:49,172 And we thought that was super odd. 425 00:25:49,256 --> 00:25:51,841 [tense music building] 426 00:25:51,925 --> 00:25:54,469 [Carroll] He was the number one suspect at that time. 427 00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:56,846 And so we needed to look for this man. 428 00:25:58,390 --> 00:26:01,893 [music fades slowly] 429 00:26:03,562 --> 00:26:08,233 I was driving to work the next day, and I am at a light. 430 00:26:08,316 --> 00:26:10,318 [suspenseful music playing] 431 00:26:12,904 --> 00:26:17,951 [Carroll] And I look over now, and I see a person that I feel like I know. 432 00:26:21,371 --> 00:26:24,082 And then the brain was quickly processing that, 433 00:26:24,165 --> 00:26:25,709 and I remembered the photo. 434 00:26:31,923 --> 00:26:34,676 I'm looking at the photo, and I'm looking at the car, and… 435 00:26:36,094 --> 00:26:37,304 It was definitely him. 436 00:26:38,847 --> 00:26:40,849 This could be the sniper, right here next to me. 437 00:26:43,893 --> 00:26:45,061 I have to do something. 438 00:26:46,771 --> 00:26:48,273 Okay, what do I do now? 439 00:26:48,773 --> 00:26:50,317 I can't make a vehicle stop right here. 440 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:52,652 There's way too many cars and way too many people. 441 00:26:53,820 --> 00:26:56,072 [car horn honks] 442 00:26:56,156 --> 00:26:57,699 [music building] 443 00:26:58,825 --> 00:27:02,287 [Carroll] And I followed him into a business complex, and he parked. 444 00:27:06,833 --> 00:27:08,543 If I went in by myself, 445 00:27:08,627 --> 00:27:11,212 I could miss him and then potentially lose the car as well. 446 00:27:11,713 --> 00:27:13,214 So I made a phone call 447 00:27:13,298 --> 00:27:16,760 and got my supervisor from the task force, uh, rolling, 448 00:27:16,843 --> 00:27:17,969 along with some backup, 449 00:27:18,053 --> 00:27:21,181 and we were able to take this man into custody. 450 00:27:21,264 --> 00:27:22,974 [somber music playing] 451 00:27:23,058 --> 00:27:25,435 [Carroll] We could have him now. This could be it. 452 00:27:26,895 --> 00:27:28,938 We could actually have caught the killer. 453 00:27:38,615 --> 00:27:40,116 [player whirring] 454 00:27:41,076 --> 00:27:43,036 One thing I remember during the questioning 455 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:44,704 was the look on his face 456 00:27:44,788 --> 00:27:49,292 when it became apparent to him that he was a suspect in the shootings. 457 00:27:49,376 --> 00:27:53,755 "Wait, what? You think that was me? You think this is me? No." 458 00:27:55,298 --> 00:27:58,885 What he said to us was he was just infatuated with the case. 459 00:28:00,011 --> 00:28:03,431 I have seen genuine innocent people's reaction 460 00:28:03,515 --> 00:28:05,266 versus guilty people's reactions, 461 00:28:05,350 --> 00:28:07,977 and, you know, I kinda threw my hands up like, 462 00:28:08,061 --> 00:28:10,980 "Yeah, this… this knucklehead's wrong place, wrong time." 463 00:28:12,065 --> 00:28:13,608 We did check alibis. 464 00:28:13,692 --> 00:28:15,068 We talked to his wife. 465 00:28:15,151 --> 00:28:17,028 There were a number of things that just, 466 00:28:17,112 --> 00:28:20,198 within minutes, came together to rule him out. 467 00:28:21,658 --> 00:28:24,202 Damn, you know, if it just was him, 468 00:28:24,285 --> 00:28:27,872 we'd caught him and we can move forward and people are safe again. 469 00:28:27,956 --> 00:28:30,166 [somber music playing] 470 00:28:30,250 --> 00:28:33,461 [reporter] The shooter whom police call an elusive serial sniper 471 00:28:33,545 --> 00:28:35,797 is terrorizing this Washington region. 472 00:28:36,297 --> 00:28:38,466 Any time there was another shooting… 473 00:28:39,884 --> 00:28:43,680 our heart sunk that, you know, a sense of failure 474 00:28:43,763 --> 00:28:45,974 that we haven't stopped these killers. 475 00:28:46,057 --> 00:28:49,144 We would have liked to have solved this by now, but it's… 476 00:28:49,227 --> 00:28:51,354 [Bouchard] People were just terrified. 477 00:28:51,438 --> 00:28:53,273 …that we're trying our best. 478 00:28:54,733 --> 00:28:56,609 [Bouchard] School sports stopped. 479 00:28:58,278 --> 00:28:59,904 School recesses stopped. 480 00:29:01,030 --> 00:29:03,658 [reporter] Ten people have been shot, eight are dead, 481 00:29:03,742 --> 00:29:06,244 as a sniper terrorizes the Washington area. 482 00:29:06,327 --> 00:29:09,122 The latest victim, 53-year-old Kenneth Bridges. 483 00:29:10,665 --> 00:29:14,169 [Thomson] We had no idea, uh, where they were gonna be next. 484 00:29:15,211 --> 00:29:17,881 Like tryin' to hold a pile of sand in your hand. 485 00:29:17,964 --> 00:29:19,632 It just keeps goin' out because you… 486 00:29:19,716 --> 00:29:22,469 you can't grasp it and… and do something with it. 487 00:29:27,390 --> 00:29:28,808 [music fades] 488 00:29:28,892 --> 00:29:31,853 [tense music playing] 489 00:29:31,936 --> 00:29:34,898 [Carroll] I'm sitting at the investigative table, looking at leads, 490 00:29:34,981 --> 00:29:39,611 and the agent that's sitting next to me gets a call on his cell phone 491 00:29:39,694 --> 00:29:43,823 from another agent who's at a Home Depot in Falls Church, 492 00:29:43,907 --> 00:29:46,284 in the store, and heard gunshots. 493 00:29:46,367 --> 00:29:47,786 [indistinct chatter] 494 00:29:47,869 --> 00:29:51,748 My husband was off, and with my three boys, 495 00:29:51,831 --> 00:29:54,459 and were gonna be going to a Home Depot that day. 496 00:29:54,542 --> 00:29:56,419 [suspenseful music playing] 497 00:29:56,503 --> 00:30:00,799 The panic, personally, when I heard "Home Depot in Virginia," 498 00:30:00,882 --> 00:30:06,888 and I didn't know where they were was swirling as I was driving there. 499 00:30:09,390 --> 00:30:12,519 Fortunately, they called and said, "We're home, we're good." 500 00:30:12,602 --> 00:30:15,313 And I said, "That's all I needed to know. I'll call you later." 501 00:30:15,396 --> 00:30:17,106 [tense music playing] 502 00:30:17,190 --> 00:30:19,025 [Carroll] I'm arriving at the scene, 503 00:30:19,108 --> 00:30:22,487 and I'm walking through, now, this massive parking lot 504 00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:24,823 towards our command site. 505 00:30:26,616 --> 00:30:28,618 And my personal phone rings. 506 00:30:29,786 --> 00:30:31,913 I saw that it was my dad in Los Angeles, 507 00:30:31,996 --> 00:30:35,750 and I said, you know, "Hey, Dad. I'm fine. Everything's good." 508 00:30:35,834 --> 00:30:37,252 "But I can't really talk right now." 509 00:30:37,335 --> 00:30:38,795 And he goes, "I know you can't talk." 510 00:30:38,878 --> 00:30:41,631 "I'm watching you walk across a parking lot at a crime scene." 511 00:30:41,714 --> 00:30:43,466 [reporter] Another woman was dead. 512 00:30:43,550 --> 00:30:45,635 Almost certainly, police said, at the hands… 513 00:30:45,718 --> 00:30:49,138 [Carroll] He was panicked that if he could see me on the news, 514 00:30:49,222 --> 00:30:52,767 that the suspects could see me too and that I could be shot. 515 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,520 And it sent my head spinning. 516 00:30:56,980 --> 00:31:00,859 I remember putting the phone back in my pocket, thinking he was right, 517 00:31:00,942 --> 00:31:03,945 and we were just out in the open for a shot. 518 00:31:04,028 --> 00:31:07,782 [ominous music playing] 519 00:31:07,866 --> 00:31:10,451 [Carroll] I could never shut it off, try as I might. 520 00:31:14,581 --> 00:31:18,751 I had no idea, when I was assigned to this case, 521 00:31:19,627 --> 00:31:26,467 the level of intensity, and anxiety and stress 522 00:31:26,551 --> 00:31:27,802 that would accompany it. 523 00:31:28,928 --> 00:31:30,930 [music fades] 524 00:31:34,183 --> 00:31:37,061 -[somber music playing] -[indistinct chatter] 525 00:31:37,145 --> 00:31:38,354 [Bouchard] It's Saturday night. 526 00:31:38,855 --> 00:31:41,357 My wife and I had dinner for the first time together 527 00:31:41,858 --> 00:31:43,318 probably in about a week and a half. 528 00:31:45,570 --> 00:31:48,698 We just caught up on things that were goin' on with our children. 529 00:31:48,781 --> 00:31:49,866 [phone vibrating] 530 00:31:50,575 --> 00:31:52,911 [Bouchard] And I got interrupted with a phone call 531 00:31:53,536 --> 00:31:56,998 that another shooting had taken place in Ashland, Virginia. 532 00:31:57,916 --> 00:32:01,419 And they had some forensic evidence that might help us solve the case. 533 00:32:01,502 --> 00:32:03,713 [tense music playing] 534 00:32:05,298 --> 00:32:08,676 I told my wife, you know, I was gonna have to go to work. 535 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:10,428 She took it like a trooper. 536 00:32:10,511 --> 00:32:12,805 I won't say what she really said, but… 537 00:32:13,306 --> 00:32:14,891 [laughs] 538 00:32:15,767 --> 00:32:18,436 Anyone who's married knows. [chuckles] 539 00:32:18,519 --> 00:32:21,981 [sirens wailing] 540 00:32:27,028 --> 00:32:30,990 [Bouchard] Jeffrey Hopper. He had some significant injuries. 541 00:32:31,532 --> 00:32:32,909 But fortunately survived. 542 00:32:33,993 --> 00:32:38,164 He and his wife were traveling down I-95, stopped for dinner, 543 00:32:38,998 --> 00:32:41,542 when his wife heard a shot ring out. 544 00:32:41,626 --> 00:32:43,503 [chilling music playing] 545 00:32:43,586 --> 00:32:46,255 [Bouchard] She thought it came from a wooded area. 546 00:32:46,923 --> 00:32:53,012 Crime scene technicians found a note tacked to a tree in a plastic Ziploc bag. 547 00:32:55,056 --> 00:32:57,058 [music fades out slowly] 548 00:33:01,479 --> 00:33:02,563 Yeah, I can read it. 549 00:33:06,275 --> 00:33:11,906 "For you, Mr. Police. Call me God. Do not release to the press." 550 00:33:12,532 --> 00:33:16,828 "If stopping the killing is more important than catching us now, 551 00:33:16,911 --> 00:33:20,331 then you'll accept our demands, which are nonnegotiable." 552 00:33:21,124 --> 00:33:23,292 The demand was that we place ten million dollars 553 00:33:23,376 --> 00:33:24,919 in a Bank of America account 554 00:33:25,837 --> 00:33:27,338 with an ATM card. 555 00:33:28,715 --> 00:33:31,843 "We have tried to contact you to start negotiations, 556 00:33:31,926 --> 00:33:33,678 without any response." 557 00:33:35,221 --> 00:33:37,098 This was a big break in the case. 558 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,101 Let's look back to when they might have called, 559 00:33:40,184 --> 00:33:42,645 see if we can find out anything additional. 560 00:33:43,855 --> 00:33:45,648 [pensive music playing] 561 00:33:46,566 --> 00:33:48,192 He had contacted Officer Derick… 562 00:33:50,445 --> 00:33:52,238 who worked in our media section, 563 00:33:52,739 --> 00:33:54,240 and told Officer Derick 564 00:33:54,323 --> 00:34:00,371 they were involved in a shooting and robbery and murder 565 00:34:01,289 --> 00:34:03,082 that occurred in Alabama. 566 00:34:06,419 --> 00:34:11,382 Initially, the investigators thought it didn't seem like it was connected. 567 00:34:14,635 --> 00:34:16,596 The shooting happened many miles away, 568 00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:20,892 about a month before, uh, everything started in Montgomery County. 569 00:34:22,894 --> 00:34:23,978 [line ringing] 570 00:34:24,062 --> 00:34:28,941 But you could just take a lead like that and give it to an FBI agent in Alabama, 571 00:34:29,025 --> 00:34:31,069 and they could look up the information. 572 00:34:31,152 --> 00:34:33,154 [printer whirring] 573 00:34:35,114 --> 00:34:37,909 [Thomson] So, two people were leaving a business, 574 00:34:38,409 --> 00:34:42,830 and a person went up to them and shot them, 575 00:34:42,914 --> 00:34:47,877 stole the proceeds from that business, and took off running. 576 00:34:49,170 --> 00:34:53,174 But the suspect was carrying a Shooters magazine. 577 00:34:54,592 --> 00:34:57,386 While he was running, he dropped that magazine. 578 00:34:58,262 --> 00:35:02,391 We talked to the detective about evidence obtained from that crime scene, 579 00:35:02,475 --> 00:35:05,812 and he said, "We received fingerprints from the catalog." 580 00:35:07,271 --> 00:35:10,108 They ran it through the Alabama state identification system 581 00:35:10,191 --> 00:35:11,359 and did not get a hit. 582 00:35:13,069 --> 00:35:19,909 And so, we reran that fingerprint through the national database, and it got a hit. 583 00:35:27,750 --> 00:35:32,296 The fingerprints came back to a 17-year-old named Lee Boyd Malvo. 584 00:35:32,380 --> 00:35:35,675 [somber music playing] 585 00:35:35,758 --> 00:35:40,012 This is an aha moment. This is an OMG. You know, "We've got something here." 586 00:35:40,096 --> 00:35:43,057 [somber music building] 587 00:35:43,724 --> 00:35:46,519 He appeared to be an immigrant from the West Indies, 588 00:35:46,602 --> 00:35:48,855 and he had been detained, 589 00:35:49,355 --> 00:35:52,567 coming across the border from Canada into the States, 590 00:35:52,650 --> 00:35:54,819 and was fingerprinted at the time. 591 00:35:57,864 --> 00:36:02,243 They asked Malvo who he was with, and he said he was with an older man. 592 00:36:03,369 --> 00:36:10,042 That person had legitimate paperwork, and that his name was John Allen Muhammad. 593 00:36:12,753 --> 00:36:15,173 I was involved with running the files 594 00:36:15,256 --> 00:36:17,842 on everything that we could possibly know about Muhammad. 595 00:36:17,925 --> 00:36:20,178 [energetic music playing] 596 00:36:20,261 --> 00:36:22,221 [keyboard clacking] 597 00:36:22,305 --> 00:36:25,975 [Carroll] He served in the army under the name John Allen Williams. 598 00:36:27,393 --> 00:36:32,815 He was under a restraining order that had been filed by his ex-wife 599 00:36:32,899 --> 00:36:35,359 to prevent him from seeing their children 600 00:36:35,443 --> 00:36:39,030 because he had kidnapped them for a significant period of time. 601 00:36:41,741 --> 00:36:45,203 I absolutely felt, from that moment, 602 00:36:45,286 --> 00:36:48,122 that we were onto the right guys and we were gonna get 'em. 603 00:36:50,750 --> 00:36:52,376 [music fades] 604 00:36:54,170 --> 00:36:59,050 That was one of the highest points that people had over those three weeks, 605 00:36:59,550 --> 00:37:02,511 that, you know, we think we're on to solvin' this thing. 606 00:37:02,595 --> 00:37:04,805 [pensive music playing] 607 00:37:06,390 --> 00:37:09,060 We were running records in Virginia and D.C. 608 00:37:09,143 --> 00:37:12,855 Any national databases that we could about Muhammad. 609 00:37:12,939 --> 00:37:15,107 [keyboard clacking] 610 00:37:15,191 --> 00:37:17,318 [Carroll] And the one we keyed on the most 611 00:37:17,401 --> 00:37:21,530 was a vehicle that was registered to John Allen Muhammad. 612 00:37:23,783 --> 00:37:27,328 It was a blue Chevy Caprice, purchased in New Jersey. 613 00:37:29,789 --> 00:37:33,209 We had a license plate. We had a name. Two names. 614 00:37:33,292 --> 00:37:35,753 The biggest thing in all of our minds is, 615 00:37:35,836 --> 00:37:38,923 "What are we gonna do with all this when we don't know where they are yet?" 616 00:37:39,006 --> 00:37:41,968 And, "Please let us get them before the next killing." 617 00:37:42,051 --> 00:37:43,928 [music fades] 618 00:37:44,011 --> 00:37:46,389 [horns honking in distance] 619 00:37:46,472 --> 00:37:48,975 [caller] Some bus driver's been shot at Oxen Hill. 620 00:37:49,058 --> 00:37:53,104 Oh, I'm scared. Please send some help. Please. I'm on the bus. 621 00:37:53,604 --> 00:37:57,024 [Carroll] You're so close… but then you're not. 622 00:37:58,234 --> 00:37:59,652 We have another victim. 623 00:38:02,196 --> 00:38:06,033 I think we probably felt the most pressure after that shooting. 624 00:38:06,909 --> 00:38:09,537 You know, "Move fast. Move fast. Get through this." 625 00:38:09,620 --> 00:38:12,832 "Let's take the pieces that are important and get 'em done so we can find 'em." 626 00:38:12,915 --> 00:38:14,917 [ominous music playing] 627 00:38:18,087 --> 00:38:20,089 [man on radio] A federal arrest warrant has been… 628 00:38:20,172 --> 00:38:22,383 [Thomson] I was working the night shift, 629 00:38:22,466 --> 00:38:26,762 and it was on the TV that was, uh, in our office. 630 00:38:26,846 --> 00:38:29,056 We've also learned the vehicle that they're looking for 631 00:38:29,140 --> 00:38:32,727 is a burgundy or blue Chevy sedan. 632 00:38:33,477 --> 00:38:38,566 I was surprised to hear that we were looking for a blue Caprice. 633 00:38:38,649 --> 00:38:41,819 'Cause we had so many leads about white box trucks. 634 00:38:43,446 --> 00:38:46,449 I'm getting ready to leave the task force office, 635 00:38:46,532 --> 00:38:50,870 and a supervisor from the tactical unit… 636 00:38:52,747 --> 00:38:55,333 he stops me and says, "Don't leave." 637 00:38:55,416 --> 00:38:58,044 "I think they found the car." 638 00:39:00,588 --> 00:39:02,840 He's communicating with state police. 639 00:39:04,300 --> 00:39:05,885 The car that we're looking for 640 00:39:05,968 --> 00:39:09,221 has been spotted in Washington County at a rest stop. 641 00:39:11,807 --> 00:39:13,434 They believe it's occupied. 642 00:39:13,517 --> 00:39:16,896 They can't tell it's occupied because it has dark windows. 643 00:39:16,979 --> 00:39:18,731 [music building] 644 00:39:18,814 --> 00:39:22,485 So I left the task force office. Quickly. 645 00:39:25,196 --> 00:39:27,198 We don't want the media to follow us up there, 646 00:39:27,281 --> 00:39:29,533 so I don't have my red light siren on. 647 00:39:32,161 --> 00:39:36,499 We were all gonna meet the state police right near the rest stop. 648 00:39:38,501 --> 00:39:43,255 I was hopin' and prayin' that, uh, we had the right car and we had the right people. 649 00:39:45,299 --> 00:39:47,802 And we were gonna find evidence in the car 650 00:39:47,885 --> 00:39:50,763 that was gonna link them to the shootings that we had. 651 00:39:53,432 --> 00:39:56,477 We finally get to the, uh, staging area. 652 00:39:58,187 --> 00:40:01,482 I talk with the captain who's in charge of the state police there. 653 00:40:01,565 --> 00:40:03,317 [indistinct radio chatter] 654 00:40:03,401 --> 00:40:06,862 He tells us the SWAT team has already arrived. 655 00:40:08,072 --> 00:40:11,033 To go in the wooded area to approach the car, 656 00:40:11,117 --> 00:40:12,660 and we're just to… to wait. 657 00:40:13,536 --> 00:40:16,497 -[tense music playing] -[indistinct radio chatter] 658 00:40:17,540 --> 00:40:23,671 [Thomson] We're just anxiously awaiting confirmation that we had them. 659 00:40:23,754 --> 00:40:25,131 [radio chatter] 660 00:40:25,214 --> 00:40:28,426 And hopefully, nobody gets injured during the… the takedown. 661 00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:33,264 [man on radio] Eighteen seconds. 662 00:40:35,724 --> 00:40:37,560 [Thomson] A lot of things go through your mind. 663 00:40:40,312 --> 00:40:43,149 You have a lot of adrenaline going. 664 00:40:45,401 --> 00:40:47,653 And then I get… a call. 665 00:40:50,823 --> 00:40:54,493 The tactical team busted out the two windows 666 00:40:54,577 --> 00:40:56,162 on either side of the car. 667 00:40:56,245 --> 00:40:57,371 [glass shatters] 668 00:40:57,455 --> 00:40:59,290 Pulled both of them out. 669 00:40:59,373 --> 00:41:01,750 [suspenseful music playing] 670 00:41:02,835 --> 00:41:06,255 I see the two suspects, Muhammad and Malvo, 671 00:41:07,590 --> 00:41:10,551 and they purposefully put them in separate locations 672 00:41:10,634 --> 00:41:11,760 on both sides of the car. 673 00:41:11,844 --> 00:41:14,180 So they couldn't talk or communicate with each other. 674 00:41:16,807 --> 00:41:18,309 Broken glass everywhere. 675 00:41:23,314 --> 00:41:24,773 An initial search was made. 676 00:41:24,857 --> 00:41:26,984 [police sirens approaching] 677 00:41:27,067 --> 00:41:29,403 And there was a hole in the trunk. 678 00:41:30,654 --> 00:41:34,742 And you could crawl into the back and take the shot. 679 00:41:37,703 --> 00:41:39,997 And as soon as the back seat is pulled up, 680 00:41:40,956 --> 00:41:42,583 you can see the rifle there. 681 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:47,379 It was like, "It's over." 682 00:41:50,758 --> 00:41:51,592 So… 683 00:41:51,675 --> 00:41:54,428 [somber music playing] 684 00:41:57,056 --> 00:41:58,516 [sighs] 685 00:42:02,186 --> 00:42:03,187 [clicks tongue] 686 00:42:09,401 --> 00:42:11,237 [man] Tell us what you think of Chief Moose. 687 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:12,196 [crowd] We love him! 688 00:42:12,279 --> 00:42:13,906 [crowd clamoring] 689 00:42:13,989 --> 00:42:16,408 [Bouchard] We walked out the door, and there's all, 690 00:42:16,492 --> 00:42:19,912 you know, people cheering, uh, kids with signs. 691 00:42:19,995 --> 00:42:22,581 [crowd cheering and applauding] 692 00:42:22,665 --> 00:42:25,209 [Bouchard] You know, we're all, like, taken aback. 693 00:42:25,292 --> 00:42:27,545 Trying to be focused. "Here's what we're gonna say." 694 00:42:28,128 --> 00:42:30,422 Thank you, Chief. Sorry to keep everyone waiting tonight. 695 00:42:30,506 --> 00:42:33,634 That was the one day that the media didn't have a lot of questions. 696 00:42:33,717 --> 00:42:36,387 Um, they were just happy to hear what we had to say. 697 00:42:36,887 --> 00:42:41,141 October 3rd, Prem Kumar Walekar in Montgomery County. 698 00:42:41,642 --> 00:42:45,396 October 3rd, Sarah Ramos in Montgomery County. 699 00:42:45,479 --> 00:42:50,734 And he started naming all the victims, and I had tears flowing. 700 00:42:50,818 --> 00:42:55,197 And it was just that relief, um, the exhaustion finally coming through. 701 00:42:55,781 --> 00:43:00,077 And our thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims of these shootings. Thank you. 702 00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:04,415 My kids were watching the press conference and looking from the TV to me, 703 00:43:04,915 --> 00:43:06,458 and looking to the TV, to me. 704 00:43:06,542 --> 00:43:09,461 And they're like, "Wait, Mom. They… you caught him." 705 00:43:10,004 --> 00:43:10,963 "Why are you crying?" 706 00:43:11,046 --> 00:43:14,049 And they're like, "Wait. We can have recess now." 707 00:43:14,133 --> 00:43:16,885 And they're jumpin' up and down, high-fivin' each other. 708 00:43:16,969 --> 00:43:19,305 And they stopped and looked at me and said, "Right, Mom?" 709 00:43:19,388 --> 00:43:22,016 And I said, "Yeah, you can have recess now." 710 00:43:22,099 --> 00:43:25,102 It was the joy coupled with all of the emotion. 711 00:43:25,185 --> 00:43:26,562 [somber music playing] 712 00:43:58,093 --> 00:44:00,804 [eerie closing theme music playing]