BELTWAY
SNIPER’S NEXT TARGET

Topics: Children; Depravity; Evil; Parenting; Teens; Terrorism; Threats

References: Exodus 11:4–8; Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2; 19:43–44

The “Beltway Sniper,” John Allen Muhammad, was convicted in May 2006 in Maryland for murdering six people. He had already been sentenced to death in Virginia for murders committed there. However, during the trial, some frightening information was revealed about what Muhammad would have done if he had evaded capture.

According to Lee Boyd Malvo, Muhammad’s accomplice in the sniper attacks, Muhammad planned to bomb schools and children’s hospitals after the sniper phase of his plan was completed. When Malvo asked why, Muhammad said, “For the sheer terror of it, the worst thing you can do to people is aim at their children.”

—“Quotables & ’Toons,” World (June 10, 2006)