Effects of Washington D.C Snipers

Effects of Washington D. C Snipers Two men that decide they want to take people’s lives into their own hands, can change the way American citizens live their everyday lives. This exact situation happened over a twenty-three day period, when John Muhammad and John Malvo went on a shooting spree in Washington D. C. John Allen Muhammad, a forty-one year old veteran expert marksman of the Persian Gulf War, was the main culprit of the crime. He was accompanied by John Lee Malvo, a seventeen year old Jamaican citizen. These two men killed ten people and wounded three others. The snipers had a strategic plan in shooting their victims. As appose to a random one day spree, they had a well thought out process of how to conduct this shooting. They cut a small hole out of the trunk of an old car. They used this hole to stick their gun out of and shoot people without getting caught, and without people knowing where the shooting was coming from. There were no particular people that they were trying to shoot. Everyone that was shot or wounded was random. They shot people picking their kids up from school, and people filling up with gas. This shooting scared people all over the community and throughout the nation. No one felt safe leaving their homes. Before the criminals were caught people were very cautious performing their everyday activities. Some people did not want to take their kids to school fearing that they, or their children might be in danger. The parents and children who did perform their everyday activities lived in fear every time Dial 2 they were in the open. This shooting also stopped people from wanting to get out of their car to fill up with gas. People also stopped going to the park, and even going out to run and exercise. People who had to walk to and from work were scared to go to their jobs in fear of being shot. Anytime people had to be out in the open, they felt as if they were a target. They were scared that somebody was always watching them through the scope of a rifle. Because the people did not know where the shooting was coming from, they did not know what warnings to look for. Once the shooters were caught, some of the tension was relieved. Even though some of the tension was relieved, some people still had the killings of innocent people in the back of their minds. Since someone had committed such an awful crime, they thought that someone else would commit this crime in a similar style. It took time before kids were out playing in the park again and people were back to their normal everyday activities. Because of this shooting, more cars are stopped and searched, because of small traffic violations to ensure the safety of others. More cameras have been put up throughout the city so cops can look at what happened after a crime has been committed, and hopefully bring the criminals to justice. During the time of big events, there are also more roads closed and blocked where all cars are stopped and questioned. Crimes like this also make it harder for the everyday citizen to buy a gun. It also makes people consider going and getting a concealed weapons license. Even today, five years later, people are still worried about crimes like this being committed. Some people feel as if they are a target every time they step out of their front door. Cops all over America have been trained to be able to spot suspicious behavior and know what to look for. The Government’s job is to make everyone feel safe, although this is not always possible because of similar situations from the past.