CRIME HISTORY

The Story of the Beltway Snipers

The random attacks of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo left the country on edge throughout the fourth quarter of 2002

Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers
CrimeBeat
Published in
6 min readMar 23, 2021

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Photos by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office

The Beltway Sniper attacks left the country on edge throughout the fourth quarter of 2002. The snipers, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo engaged in a three-week killing spree that left ten people dead and three others, critically injured in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area and Virginia’s Interstate 95.

Incidents before the attacks

The pair were involved in multiple incidents before their killing spree in October 2002. On August 1st, 2002, Malvo shot John Gaeta in the neck in a parking lot in Hammond, Louisiana, and stole his wallet. Gaeta survived the shooting and ran to a service station before seeking medical treatment at a hospital.

On September 5th, 2002, an unknown assailant shot Paul LaRuffa six times while closing up his Clinton, Maryland restaurant. LaRuffa survived the shooting, and his laptop was found in Muhammad’s car the month after.

On September 21st, 2002, Claudine Parker was shot and killed in a robbery in Montgomery, Alabama. Her co-worker, Kellie Adams, was critically wounded but…

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Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers
CrimeBeat

20+ years in Property Management, freelance writer, advocate for positive thinking, enjoy running for charity events, interested in a variety of topics