Washington DC sniper ten years later

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It began ten years ago in Wheaton with a single gunshot. James D. Martin, 55, had stopped off at a Shoppers Food Warehouse on his way home when, for no apparent reason, an unseen assailant shot and killed him.

The next morning, four others in Montgomery County were killed while doing mundane activities – pumping gas, mowing a lawn, sitting on a bench, vacuuming a minivan. A sixth victim fell that night in Washington near the county line.

Over three terrifying weeks in October 2002, the so-called Beltway Sniper fatally shot 10 people in the Washington region, ratcheting up anxiety levels all the way from Baltimore to Richmond.