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Malvo: Sniper hoped to train kids in terrorism

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 24, 2006

ROCKVILLE, Md. - John Allen Muhammad had grand plans to extort millions of dollars from authorities in the 2002 Washington-area sniper shootings so he could set up a camp to train children how to terrorize cities and "shut things down," accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo testified Tuesday.

Asked whether he believed Muhammad's plans, Malvo said he did.

"He's a man of his word. If he tells you he is going to do something, it is done," Malvo said. "If he says it, it is legit."

Malvo, who had never before taken the witness stand against his fellow sniper, gave the most detailed account yet of the planning that went into the three-week shooting rampage that left 10 people dead at gas stations and parking lots.

Malvo also said Muhammad devised a two-phase plan to shoot as many as six random people each day for 30 days in the Washington area and then target children and police officers with explosives. They planned to place explosives on school buses in Baltimore, kill a Baltimore police officer and then set off explosives packed with ball bearings at the officer's funeral.

When Malvo asked Muhammad why, he said, "For the sheer terror of it - the worst thing you can do to people is aim at their children."

Midway through the shootings, Malvo said, Muhammad described the plans to take money they would extort from authorities to end the sniper shootings and establish a Canadian commune to train 140 homeless children in terrorist shooting and bombings to "continue the mission" in other cities.

Muhammad, 45, and Malvo, now 21, were arrested Oct. 24, 2002, at a western Maryland rest stop.

They have already been convicted in Virginia for a sniper murder there. Muhammad received a death sentence while Malvo was given a life term.

[Last modified May 24, 2006, 05:26:50]