The Indiscriminate Assassinations Are Spreading to Everywhere in America

There happened the 12th assassination happened killing a man in his 30`s at the parking lot of a restaurant in Ashland, Virginia on the 19th, so the fear around Washington is even more spreading.

▽ Summary of the crime=According to the Ashland Police Department, the victim (37) was shot in his stomach while going to his car with his wife after leaving the restaurant around 8PM on the 19th. The wife stated, “When we were at the parking lot, I heard a strange sound from the forest behind, and my husband were down after taking three steps.” However, it was not known that this incident was related to the chain assassinations or not.

The Washington Post reported in relation to this incident on the 20th, “It is similar to the previous assassinations because it was happened near a major highway, the victim got just one bullet, and the criminal disappeared with no trace.”

If the same criminal did it, it was happened 5 days after the 11th assassination on the 14th. This means the criminal was silent for the longest period of time. Ashland is 145km away form Washington, so the spot of incident is also the furthest from Washington.

▽ Police investigation=The Police of Washington, Maryland, and Virginia are blocking major roads and continue to pursue the white van that witnesses pointed out.

The Ashland Police Department also said, “We are investigating whether the bullet shell found at a truck leasing company on the 18th is the same kind as the one found before.” This bullet shell was found in a white truck returned on the 18th to this company.

The police explained, “Unlike the 0.223 caliber shell found in the chain assassination, this one looks like a 0.3 caliber,” and “precise result will be know by Monday.” According to the police, 9 shells out of 11 shells found so far were 0.223 calibers, and the other 2 could not be recognized due to severe damage.

▽ Work of Al Qaida?=In the meantime, there aroused a questing that the chain assassin might be related to the Islam terror organization, Al Qaida. The ABC reported on the 18th that the FBI secured a statement from a terrorist last week who said, “I witnessed Al Qaida organized assassin groups and trained them.”

This terrorist, who were captured in charge of trying to bomb the US Embassy in Paris, was known to say to the investigators, “Al Qaida organized 3-men assassin groups to attack America.”

The FBI refused to officially confirm this report, and there is no hard evident that the assassin is related to Al Qaida.

However, the Director of the US National Security, Tom Ridge said, “We are not dismissing the possibility of terror because it has an effect of terror like putting the whole Washington into fear.”

Seung-Jin Kim sarafina@donga.com