The rifle that was used in the Washington area sniper shootings also was used in last month's Alabama killing that led investigators to the suspects, Montgomery, Ala., Police Chief John H. Wilson said yesterday, citing newly available results of ballistics tests.
Police originally thought a .22-caliber handgun was used in the slaying at a state-run liquor store in Montgomery, raising several questions for investigators.
Wilson said witnesses saw John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, the two suspects in the sniper shootings, at the scene of the Montgomery shooting. But they said Muhammad had a handgun and Malvo was holding a magazine -- and neither appeared to have a rifle, Wilson said.
That, Wilson said, has led him to suspect that a third person may have been involved and possibly fired the Bushmaster XM-15 rifle that authorities found in Muhammad's Chevrolet Caprice last week.
"It's frustrating. Just at the time you figure it out, it grows another leg," he said.
Police originally thought a .22-caliber handgun was used in the slaying at a state-run liquor store in Montgomery, raising several questions for investigators.
Wilson said witnesses saw John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, the two suspects in the sniper shootings, at the scene of the Montgomery shooting. But they said Muhammad had a handgun and Malvo was holding a magazine -- and neither appeared to have a rifle, Wilson said.
That, Wilson said, has led him to suspect that a third person may have been involved and possibly fired the Bushmaster XM-15 rifle that authorities found in Muhammad's Chevrolet Caprice last week.
"It's frustrating. Just at the time you figure it out, it grows another leg," he said.
Dr. Mordrid
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