The Three Long Weeks The Washington Area Is Terrorized By...

The Beltway Snipers Three long weeks the Washington area was terrorized by a series of random sniper attacks. At first, the shootings seemed to be random, but were soon discovered to be coordinated attacks by John Allen Muhammad and his accomplice named Lee Boyd Malvo. The sniper’s claimed the lives of ten victims over the span of three weeks time, starting the second of October 2002 and ending around the 23 of October. Following leads, the police found a tree stump in their back yard that had been used for practicing. The two men were found sleeping in their car at a rest stop, in possession of guns matching the ballistics of the bullets found at the crime scenes. According to Crime Museum, in 2003 Muhammad was convicted on two counts of capital murder, homicide committed with intent to terrorize government or the public at large, conspiracy to commit murder, and the illegal use of a firearm. (Crime Museum) In March 2004, a judge from Virginia sentenced Muhammad to death. In 2009 Muhammad was executed by lethal injection. Boyd was also charged twice with capital murder and the unlawful use of a firearm. Boyd pleaded not guilty on all charges because of insanity stating that he was under Muhammad’s complete control according to Crime Museum. According to the book, Mastering Sociology, written by James Henslin the differential association theory was developed by Edwin Sutherland. The differential association theory essentially says that the different groups a person