I, Sniper (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Call me God - full transcript

No one is safe from the shooters.

-The judge says...

-19-11, I have one down.
There's blood all over.

-I've never been beside somebody
that died right in front of you.

-Hello, this is a call from...

-Lee Malvo.

-...an inmate at the Virginia
Department of Corrections,

Red Onion State Prison.

-41-year-old man, John Muhammad,

and a Jamaican-born teenager.

-Sniper team that terrorized the
Washington metropolitan area.

-19-11 I have one down.
There's blood all over.



I'm at the Mobil gas station...

- the most intense manhunts
in American history.

-The serial killer hunting
down random citizens.

-We have fear levels here
that I think are higher

than they were
after September 11th.

-Let me go!
Let me go past!

-President Bush is talking
about fighting Iraq,

and we have a warzone
right here in his own country.

-Oh, oh, oh man, oh man.

-Let's check in with Kristy King
in Montgomery County

where they're investigating
a string

of shootings this morning.
Kristy, what's the latest?

-Police don't have much
to go on at this point,

but at a couple
of different locations,



there have been witnesses
describing a white box truck...

-I have a goal in my mind,

you know, to cross
the United States.

I am from Honduras.

I came to the U.S. illegally.

Go through all those horrible
things on the way here,

so I start going to church,
and I met Lori in there.

She have a really nice heart,
and I love her.

After we get married that was
the first thing what we want,

you know, to have a kid.

-I see you.

-We were so excited.

We decided to name her Jocelin.

I was so happy.

That morning, the leaves
were changing color,

everything was beautiful.

Lori was asleep.

I give her a kiss and leave
to go to work.

-Police don't know
what is happening,

they are trying
to string this together,

and they are asking
everyone, please,

look out for this truck,
call police if you see it.

And they're quite upset.

Some of these officers
are holding back tears

as they're beginning
to assess what's going on,

and then having to relay...

-So I'm driving up towards
Connecticut Avenue,

and I hear someone
calling for help.

I look over to my left and I see
this woman

laying on the ground.

She looked like what
she had was a seizure,

and she started bleeding
from her mouth.

So I immediately called 911.

-I have an ICU background,

and I immediately ran to her.

I then decided to go ahead
and do chest compressions,

I couldn't do mouth
to mouth or anything

because she had so much blood
coming out of her mouth.

At that point, a pregnant woman
ran up to me and she said,

"How can I help you?
Tell me what you need me to do."

And I said,
"I need an ambulance,

I've called for an ambulance,
I don't understand,

the firehouse is right there.
Why have they not sent anybody?"

And she said, "I'm on it."

And she took off
running down Connecticut Avenue,

very pregnant,
to get somebody to come help.

-There was just people
in uniforms and guns everywhere,

and we were like,
"What is all of this?"

I hadn't turned on the news
that day,

so I was completely unaware.

Later, when I said
to my husband,

you know, "I did CPR on a woman
that I think hit her head,"

he called me back and said,
"Maria, that woman was shot.

There's like some crazy person
driving down

Connecticut Avenue
shooting people.

Like, you need to get
out of there."

-There was another victim being
brought in who had been shot.

She had an entry in the back
with no exit.

Then, when we checked the X-ray,

left chest
that was full of blood.

There was no vital signs
that were detected.

She was, uh, dead upon arrival.

Beautiful woman.

And of course, doesn't look
anything like the woman

I treated.

So, I hope that this is
what people remember.

-The people who work here
at Shell, the owner tells me,

he thought that he heard
an electrical explosion...

-I got the call
from the detective.

And he said,
"Are you Nelson Rivera?"

I said, "Yes I am."

And he said,
"Are you Lori's husband?"

I said, "Yes."

Um.

He said, he...
"She just got shot.

Lori got shot, and...
And she passed away."

In that moment... just a big,
you know, cold and hot

and all kind of feelings.

Detective was waiting for me.

You know, to walk there,
and go see where her blood was.

Why?

Why did that happen to Lori?

You know, and where is Jocelin?

And they told me, "No, there was
not a baby in the...

In the car."

15 minutes before,

Lori dropped her off
at the daycare.

That was a big relief.

What am I going to tell Jocelin?

How am I going to tell her this?

Her mom is not coming back.

She's not going to see
her mom again.

How are you going to explain?

Who did this?

Why?

"We're investigating."

You know, that was their answer.

"We don't know.
We don't know."

-When a shooting occurred
down at the Shell station

at Kensington,

one of the things I did,
amongst all the phone calls

and so forth,
is I called my mother.

I called my mother because...

excuse me...

she would go there, and
that's her gas station.

I told her not to go.

To, um, to stay home.

-Five people shot and killed,

one by one within a 1-mile
radius in a span of 16 hours.

It started at 6:00 last night,

the last murder happened
at 10:00 this morning.

-It's almost like he's a ghost.

He keeps moving
from one incident to the other

and we have nothing on who he
is or what he looks like.

These people were doing
everyday,

random things
that everyone else would do,

that were totally innocent.

And so, there was no place to
position our people in advance.

We've got the helicopter up,
officers are looking,

but what are they looking for?

-Is there any possibility
that this is a... a hate crime?

-You're the police,
you're supposed to know,

you're supposed to find them,

you're supposed to protect us,

and we couldn't do any of that.

We have found no common
denominator

as of yet between the victims.

It was a hopeless feeling
and a helpless feeling.

-Is it possible the shots
were fired from the vehicle?

-Excuse me, sorry.
Um...

We don't know whether shots
were fired from a vehicle

or where they're
actually fired from,

close range or long distance.

-I'm thinking it's going to be
a man,

he's going to be all sweaty,

he's going to have
most of his clothes off.

-He's the Chief of Police here
in Montgomery County, Maryland.

-He's going to have a gun,

and either he's going
to shoot himself

or a police officer's
going to have to shoot him,

and we're going to have
the classic suicide by cop.

Hopefully we can get
this resolved

before it becomes
a state of panic.

Nothing like this has ever
happened in Montgomery County.

This is a very safe community.

Our homicide rate just increased
by 25% in one day.

We're working it,
we're doing everything we can,

but this is unlike
anything we've ever seen.

This is not what happens here.

-There are bottlenecks
on 95 north,

and I think those are
going to continue as police

keep looking
for this white vehicle.

-We're looking at some
substantial delays,

395 delays here
from the city cam.

Will begin
north of the Pentagon,

but it is having a major,
major impact at this hour.

-Halfway through
the shooting spree,

John Muhammad was sitting
in the locker room

facing the lockers, quietly.

And a staff member at the
Y said, "Are you alright?"

and the response was,
"No, I'm not. I'm not."

-John was complicated.

The only thing he told me when
we met was that he was single

and looking for someone
to settle down with.

And he asked me was I seeing
anybody, I said, "No."

He said, "Well you are now."

He had a beautiful smile.

-John was a ladies' man.

He loved the girls.

And, some of the ladies
loved him.

-He made me feel special.

He made me feel
that I was important to him.

That's something
I hadn't felt before.

-Um, he started having an
affair,

so things kind of went downhill
from there, and we split up.

-And he got a divorce,
and we got married.

John was a person
that wanted someone to love him,

wanted someone
to take care of him,

wanted someone
to understand him.

And as soon as you got
to that point, he'd switch.

"No, I'm good,
I don't need that,

I'm stronger than that.
I'm okay."

He didn't want to feel
vulnerable to anybody.

He didn't want to appear
to be weak.

Everybody needed him
but he didn't need anybody.

That's who he wanted to be.

He wanted to leave Louisiana.
He wanted to see the world.

That was why he joined the Army.

-The Armed Forces of
the United States

began an operation at
the direction of the President.

-The President of the United
States,

he has certainly demonstrated

that he is not afraid
to pull the trigger.

Today he decided
to launch Desert Storm.

-I did not want him to go to war
because I loved him.

-We're in the Gulf because of
the brutality of Saddam Hussein.

We're dealing with
a dangerous dictator

who has weapons
of mass destruction.

-I believe something happened
in Desert Storm.

I don't know what.

I don't know what happened.

But whatever happened,
changed him.

-All of us have innocence,

and we venture off of this road
of life,

we mutate, things change.

We want to understand why.

Not for him, but for us.

-General Schwarzkopf says allied
air attacks

have left
Iraq's air defenses in disarray.

-Five random murders
today in Maryland.

Five people who got up today
to get the paper,

water the lawn,
pick up the mail... shot down.

-We were aware of the shootings
that were going on

in Montgomery county.

We just felt, well, we were
kind of lucky,

nothing like
that was going on in D.C.

Until this particular
shooting happened.

The victim was 72 years of age,
neighborhood guy.

He had called his wife
and told his wife

that he was on his way home.

I met a witness on the lot here

who had told me that
after hearing the gunshot,

he observed what he described

as a dark-colored Chevy Caprice

slowly driving west on Kalmia.

He said what drew his attention
to that vehicle

was the fact
that the lights were off.

All the other shootings,
people are saying

that it's a white panel van.

We did a write up that I later
took up

to the command center
in Montgomery County,

and I tried to let the officers
and command staff

there know that unlike
the lookout that they had,

I had a lookout
for a dark Chevy Caprice...

I just felt like they didn't...
They didn't believe...

what my witnesses had told me.

That's my feeling.

You know.

We had it.

I mean, we had it.

-Police on alert
after a deadly rampage.

Five victims slain randomly,
all within 15 hours.

In a community
paralyzed by fear,

knowing the assailants
are still at large.

-A shocking series of shootings
in what is normally a quiet area

outside the nation's capital.

-We can make no sense out
of this string of killings

we deal with tonight.

-That night, Jocelin said,
"Where is Mommy?"

And I say, you know,
"Mommy went to heaven,

and she is going to
watch you from there."

I didn't find another way
to tell her, you know.

-Daddy!

I was 3 years old when she died.

I don't... I don't remember
anything about it.

The only thing I remember
is her funeral.

Um, I remember her in
a white dress.

I kind of thought
she was like Snow White,

that's what I remember.

So, I thought, you know,
you'd give her a kiss

and she'd wake up,
and it didn't work.

I think about, just the way
things could have been.

The future that
could have happened.

-Why you pick Lori?

Why?

Um, I know I'm not
going to have an answer

'cause there is not answer.

There is not.
Answer for that.

-In a suburban Maryland county
just north of Washington, D.C.,

what appears to be,
home grown terror.

Five people have been shot

and killed apparently at random
within a few hours

and within
a relatively small area.

Montgomery County borders
the nation's capital,

and so the anxiety today
was widespread.

-Someone is killing people

who are simply
going about their lives.

-It is bone chilling
when you think

of what would cause someone
to do something quite like this.

-He's bleeding real bad.

-Well, I'm telling you
it was a gun shot

because that's what we heard.

-19-11, I have one down.
There's blood all over.

-We've got a major
crime scene here.

Witnesses said they did hear
a shot.

-At this point it has been
so random,

and uh, we've not been able
to piece anything to the puzzle.

Does that mean we're inadequate?

Does that mean
I'm not doing my job?

I don't think so.

Not a day goes by that I don't
think about this investigation

It was by far the largest thing
to ever happen in my, uh,

law enforcement career.

And I'm forever disappointed
that we couldn't keep

the victims
from becoming victims.

It does lie heavy on the heart.

You know, in my head,
and in my heart.

-How is it possible that you
have five separate shootings,

and so few good witnesses?

-I'm not going to comment
on it any further.

I'm gonna go up to the
command truck right now,

um, and get more information.

This case was trial by fire.

The investigators
were frustrated.

There was no video footage,

they didn't have
any witness information,

they had nothing
additional to go on.

The sighting of the white van
was the only information we had.

-The investigation now hinges
on just one eyewitness

who reported seeing
a white truck

with possibly two people
inside fleeing

the scene
of one of the shootings.

-What are the chances that
the suspects are still

in that white box truck?

-Well, we're certainly um,
moving along as if they were.

We're not going to eliminate
anything.

-Chief Moose, he didn't look
like he liked the press.

Very early on they put out
the report

about the box shaped truck.

And in this town, which is
the most deliverable town

in the world, everybody
has a white box shaped truck.

And so, but what happened
is that people were all looking

at the box shaped truck
and then it's like,

"There's a box shaped truck.
There's a box shaped truck."

-Do you realize how many
white panel vans there are?

Really, when you look back
on it, that was, in a nutshell,

what was wrong
with this investigation.

The first night,
in Washington, D.C.,

there were witness descriptions
of a Caprice...

from the very get-go.

-A 72-year-old man
was shot to death

on a Washington, D.C.,
street corner at...

-Adding to the insecurity,

police now investigating
whether a murder last night

in the nation's capital
could be related.

-I saw like a car moved off
from behind these trees here,

and it just moved off slowly
without the lights on.

And I just observed the car.
It was a Caprice.

A dark-colored Caprice.

-Okay, in terms of whether or
not that turns out

to be a mistake,

I, uh, want to say that no lead
is a mistake.

When people tell you something,
you should listen.

So, if enough people,
or if one person says

it was a white van
speeding away,

I think we should
listen to that.

-Nobody saw a shot fired
from a white box truck

It's just what someone
saw driving away.

The only evidence we really had

in the beginning
was the ballistics.

-That Thursday, we worked all
day and halfway into the night

receiving fired bullet evidence,

uh, and trying
to identify what we had.

-I am here to look at bullets
and cartridge cases,

that are recovered
from a scene or a body,

and try to determine
whether they were fired

from a particular gun.

-All firearms have unique
microscopic marks produced

during
the manufacturing process.

[Gunshots]

The bullet travels down
the barrel,

and it actually picks up

all the microscopic markings
of the barrel of the firearm.

What we're trying to do
is compare the bullets

from the first set of shootings

and see if they came
from the same gun.

So we're looking at these
microscopic

marks, and we will go around

till we come up with what looks
to be an identification.

What does that tell me?

Well, I'm relatively sure
that these were,

to the exclusion
of all other firearms,

that these were fired
from the same firearm.

I was at the press conference
on the Friday.

We identified a caliber.

Now we could come up
with a list of firearms

that could have fired
these projectiles.

-Based on preliminary forensics
examinations

by our national laboratory,

we have laid out
four samples of ammunition.

This is a, um, .223 caliber
ammunition round.

It was a very common round,

there wasn't anything
unique about it.

It can be used by the military,
some use it for target shooting,

some use it
for shooting small animals.

We had an idea of the type of
firearm that may have been used.

Didn't know exactly,
so we needed the public's help.

This particular firearm,
is a Colt AR-15.

This is a model that people
in the United States,

if they are not prohibited,
can legally possess.

Someone who is very proficient
can be accurate,

people who shoot a lot,
people who have trained

to shoot these types of weapons
at long range,

would have the capabilities.

-Today, Maryland Police say
the serial killer

is a skilled marksman

hunting down random citizens
with a powerful rifle,

which may explain
why there are no eyewitnesses

to the five shootings in
broad daylight since Wednesday.

-We have anxiety levels here,
fear levels here,

that I think are higher than
they were after September 11th

and after the anthrax attack.

-Terrorism, is a very difficult
thing that we are very new

to experiencing
on this level on our shores.

-As we're using war
as a solution to terrorism,

so you know, the adage
of violence begets violence,

and then Bin Laden was
also trained by our military.

-We were on high alert.

Our fire chief had put out
a directive

regarding the safety
of our personnel.

I guess it was maybe one
of those situations

where you don't think it's going
to happen in your area.

-Right here, in the first
parking space

behind the vehicle,
the victim was laying.

We didn't know if there was
going to be another shot fired.

We didn't really know
if the scene was secure.

She had an entrance wound
that was below her

right shoulder blade,

and she had an exit wound
just under her right breast.

The rifle bullet's a very high
velocity round, uh

and when it hits the body,
it tends to break apart.

So, anything in the trajectory
of the round

tends to be destroyed.

-Her injuries were critical,
life-threatening injuries.

-As police continue searching
for the killer, or killers,

responsible for five murders
in Montgomery County,

there has been
another shooting today,

this time in Fredericksburg,
Virginia.

-Ballistics are back
on the shooting

that injured a 43-year-old woman
in Fredericksburg.

-The round that we collected
there is in fact a match...

-Authorities have now
linked Friday's

shooting of a woman in Virginia,
who remains in serious condition

to the six fatal shootings
in Maryland and Washington.

-Fredericksburg is only an hour
and a half at most south.

Before the victim had hardly
hit the ground,

that shooter could be back
on 95,

heading north
toward Montgomery County again.

- suggests that they have
moved to Virginia

for a period of time, and now
we don't know where they are.

-Tonight, the manhunt
still underway,

yet police admit
they still don't know

what kind of person
they are looking for,

there are so few clues.

-The person or the people
that are doing this,

rethink what you're doing, turn
yourself in to law enforcement.

- may strike again.
Now to Iraq, as President...

-This person won't stop
on his own, uh,

he likes the shooting.
He likes what he's doing...

-This is the finger of God.

-You can determine life
and death,

this... this
is emotional heroin.

And this person won't stop
until he's caught or killed.

-Tonight, some good news
about the most recent victim,

the woman from Virginia
well enough

to be released
from the hospital.

-There has been a shooting
at a school this morning.

A child has been shot.

-I guess it's getting to be
really, really personal now

-The gunman reportedly has left
a message for police.

-A Tarot card that
law enforcement sources

say shows the figure of death.

-A message on the card reads...

-"Call me God.
Do not release to the press."

We believed that we were
talking to the shooter.

You just feel like you
let the families down.

We had 'em and my mistake.

Subs extracted and de-HI'd by Peppe @ 2021