CO - Possible Serial Shooter Has Colorado Drivers on Edge #1

[margarita25]

Yep, from yesterday. Look at the location though. Seems odd on the surface.

From the Coloradoan Updated Map
The June 2nd incident updated to the map.

Interesting, the 3 businesses right there---
Possibly attempt at cockiness/humor? (IF related)

 

[margarita25]

Certainly could be that the shooter is a college student. Lived somewhere else but came to school in Ft. Collins or Greeley. Familiarized himself with the area before the shootings. In which case, now that summer is here, shootings could stop. The thing that strikes me about the area of the shootings (those on I-25 at least) is that the area is ideal for the shooter. There are plenty of on/off ramps in that area, lots of development, but still open areas with fields and trees, lots of roads to utilize. Go further south, there is much more development and traffic can get congested, could get caught in traffic and seen. Go further north and there are fewer exits and roads and traffic is less, fewer roads to escape on and could stand out more. So, the more I think about it, it is possible the shooter could try to move to a different location, but I bet he returns to this area.

Jumping off your posts here, I've been getting a younger vibe about the shooter, of course I'm doubting this sometimes and could be way off, but I too had mentioned the possibility of a college student upstream, specifically Front Range Communtiy College due to the proximity, but now I must wonder about CSU---Ft Collins has been popular here on WS between the horrible animal/beagle testing going on at the CARE lab, as well as the serial rapist, whom I believe was caught...my point, it might be worthwhile to look into the University Police's (and others) crime reports over the past year (if available), see if anything stands out as far as acts of vandalism, etc...

 

[margarita25]

Yes, "A driver-side truck window was shattered on Lincoln Ave. in Fort Collins, outside of Odell Brewery on 6/1/15". That according to a map by the Coloradoan that is linked to an old story, and is very incomplete, but included that update.

My bet is that we are only hearing about some of the shootings, just the ones that get reported to LE, and from LE to MSM and from MSM to us. That May 19, 2015 report by Marshall Zelinger 7 News Denver that generated so many additional reports was only based on fresh reporting of Weld county incidents reports received in April, and wouldn't have included incidents from surrounding counties, including Larimar, which sits astride the northern end of I-25, and might not include more recent ones even in Weld Cnty. And we only got the reports because a reporter asked for them. We might be seeing a fall off in shootings in May because we're missing reports.

EDITED TO ADD:
I see that Margarita just posted a link to a new story with the same Coloradoan map attached to it. That's the one. I had, by luck, visited the map before they published the story.

Omg, I didn't even think about this, that there could be even more incidents that we don't even know about...

 

[margarita25]

(I have this horrible feeling that this person will strike again, close to me as coincidence has it. (I'm probably just upset and scared, which is EXACTLY what this shooter probably wants btw)..I'm worried that they'll shoot someone I know, a friend or family member...I know the chances of this are very very slim considering the hundreds of motorists on these roads, but I'm having some awful PTSD stuff creeping back up from Jessica Ridgeway's case, and having a killer in my backyard...

I think I need to get to a therapist before I have a full relapse of fear, etc etc...
Thanks for listening )

eta: I really shouldn't give this person all this attention and time, because that's what they want, but I want this person off the streets, like yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[margarita25]

Qmfr:

"April 23: Weld County Road 49 at Weld County Road 24

Driver's side window of a semi-truck shattered as it traveled southbound to Interstate 76.

April 23: Southbound I-25 at mile marker 248

Abandoned truck had its back window shattered.

April 23: Southbound Weld County Road 57 and Highway 392

The back window of the vehicle shattered."

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/new...indow-incidents-on-northern-colorado-highways

All these "Weld County Roads" (in addition to I-25)...whats up with that?

So, here we've got 49@24, and 57...on 4/23...just thinking out loud...

*sigh

 

[margarita25]

"In Serial Murder, Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes define spree murder as "the killing of three or more people within a 30-day period" and add that killing sprees are "usually accompanied by the commission of another felony."[9]They cite Charles Starkweather and the Beltway Snipers as examples of spree killers.[10]"
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spree_killer

Interesting, "usually accompanied by the commission of another felony"....very interesting indeed...:waitasec:

 

[Poppyflower]

I don't think you are giving this "person" attention. You're assisting his apprehension. I wonder if you shouldn't share all the work you've done with the police. You all have come up with some great maps and gathered info into one spot.

I lived in fear when poor Jessica went missing. Between that, the theater shooting, Columbine and a few other very upsetting crimes near me and I will never be the same. My heart will always have pieces missing.

 

[margarita25]

"Douglas explains that the identity of a serial killer is generally unknown until he is caught, and the mass murderer's identity is learned only after he has committed his crime. The identity of the spree killer, on the other hand, usually becomes known by police while his spree continues, and he is sought as a fugitive.[12]

Another term,*rampage killer, has sometimes been used to describe spree killers, but it does not differentiate between mass murderers and spree killers."

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spree_killer

 

[margarita25]

I don't think you are giving this "person" attention. You're assisting his apprehension. I wonder if you shouldn't share all the work you've done with the police. You all have come up with some great maps and gathered info into one spot.

I lived in fear when poor Jessica went missing. Between that, the theater shooting, Columbine and a few other very upsetting crimes near me and I will never be the same. My heart will always have pieces missing.

Thank you So you understand!

Yes, collectively with Forager and FindHG (and SQ, etc & other great insight) we have come up with some good stuff here...
I'm sure the FBI has similar maps and stuff---if we come up with some sort of epiphany or relevant data analysis, I will definitely pass it on to LE. But up to this point, I don't think that I have come up with anything YET worthy of sending to LE, as far as being directly useful in leading to the apprehension of a suspect..still looking though!!! I'm optimistic about analyzing the data, which we are in the process of; I think we might be on the right track by looking at the shatterings, etc, even though they say they don't know if they are related......

 

[Poppyflower]

YW. Keep up the good work everyone.

Sorry, I forgot that the FBI has been called in.

 

[margarita25]

"The validity of spree murder as a separate category was discussed at great length. The general definition of spree murder is two or more murders committed by an offender or offenders, without a cooling-off period. According to the definition, the lack of a cooling-off period marks the difference between a spree murder and a serial murder. Central to the discussion was the definitional problems relating to the concept of a cooling-off period. Because it creates arbitrary guidelines, the confusion surrounding this concept led the majority of attendees to advocate disregarding the use of spree murder as a separate category. The designation does not provide any real benefit for use by law enforcement.

The different discussion groups at the Symposium agreed on a number of similar factors to be included in a definition. These included:

• one or more offenders
• two or more murdered victims
• incidents should be occurring in separate events, at different times
• the time period between murders separates serial murder from mass murder"

http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder

 

[margarita25]

"It should be noted that during a conference in 2005, the FBI dropped the classification of “spree killer,” because law enforcement officers said it had little practical value. Because spree killers had many things in common with mass murderers, there seemed no need to make a distinction.

However, researchers who are interested in the developmental and psychological issues recognize value in understanding how spree killers differ from other multiple murderers. Even if the differences are subtle, they’re important."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shadow-boxing/201302/christopher-dorner-spree-or-serial-killer

 

[Forager]

Here's a table of how the incidents spread by the day of week they occurred, and the time of day (when known). I've included all of the possible shooting incidents (and one slingshot sightings) for which we have clear dates. The two incidents which seem least like the others (the road rage incident in central Denver, and the "duel on I-76") are highlighted in grey. It would be awfully nice to get times for the incidents for which we don't yet have them. They are listed in the "unknown" column.

In the course of working the table up, I realized that I had missed two incidents, and had the wrong date on another. I've now fixed those problems. I've a added a column to the spreadsheet to indicate the weekday of the incident.

But I will leave you all to ponder the meaning of it all.



EDITED TO ADD: Does anyone understand why the attachments show up on the thread as thumbnails sometimes and huge other times?

 

[margarita25]

"In addition to the confusion over serial murder, there has been as much confusion over how to differentiate it from incidents involving spree or mass murder. Thus, to achieve clarity for my own research, I define the terms as follows:

*1)** Mass murder is a focused and singular act, occurring in one basic locale, even if the killer travels to several loosely-related spots in that general area. There are at least four fatalities and the incident lasts no more than twenty-four hours.

*2)** A spree killing involves a string of at least three murders in several locations, arising from a key precipitating incident that continues to fuel the need to kill, and the murders occur fairly close in time. The time period lasts significantly longer than that of a mass murderer (more than a day)."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/shadow-boxing/201302/christopher-dorner-spree-or-serial-killer

 

[margarita25]

Here's a table of how the incidents spread by the day of week they occurred, and the time of day (when known). I've included all of the possible shooting incidents (and one slingshot sightings) for which we have clear dates. The two incidents which seem least like the others (the road rage incident in central Denver, and the "duel on I-76") are highlighted in grey. It would be awfully nice to get times for the incidents for which we don't yet have them. They are listed in the "unknown" column.

In the course of working the table up, I realized that I had missed two incidents, and had the wrong date on another. I've now fixed those problems. I've a added a column to the spreadsheet to indicate the weekday of the incident.

But I will leave you all to ponder the meaning of it all.

View attachment 75780

Wow, great work as usual---thank you. I'm convinced the different ways at which we look at this could provide some insight...chart, graph, map....really awesome and really appreciated.

 

[margarita25]

Here's a table of how the incidents spread by the day of week they occurred, and the time of day (when known). I've included all of the possible shooting incidents (and one slingshot sightings) for which we have clear dates. The two incidents which seem least like the others (the road rage incident in central Denver, and the "duel on I-76") are highlighted in grey. It would be awfully nice to get times for the incidents for which we don't yet have them. They are listed in the "unknown" column.

In the course of working the table up, I realized that I had missed two incidents, and had the wrong date on another. I've now fixed those problems. I've a added a column to the spreadsheet to indicate the weekday of the incident.

But I will leave you all to ponder the meaning of it all.

View attachment 75780

EDITED TO ADD: Does anyone understand why the attachments show up on the thread as thumbnails sometimes and huge other times?

So, IF any of these incidents are related, it looks like Tuesday and Wednesday are especially active, in comparison, and as stated, less active on the weekends.

Some possible reasons for this, mentioned a little upstream in various posts, summarized here:

1. College kid, maybe goes home on weekends.
2. Busy working on weekends
3. No access to a vehicle
4. Has the kids on weekends

What else?

Eta: Re: point #2, maybe its the opposite...maybe he does not work on weekends, hence not being in the area "for work".

 

[margarita25]

Here's a table of how the incidents spread by the day of week they occurred, and the time of day (when known). I've included all of the possible shooting incidents (and one slingshot sightings) for which we have clear dates. The two incidents which seem least like the others (the road rage incident in central Denver, and the "duel on I-76") are highlighted in grey. It would be awfully nice to get times for the incidents for which we don't yet have them. They are listed in the "unknown" column.

In the course of working the table up, I realized that I had missed two incidents, and had the wrong date on another. I've now fixed those problems. I've a added a column to the spreadsheet to indicate the weekday of the incident.

But I will leave you all to ponder the meaning of it all.

View attachment 75780

EDITED TO ADD: Does anyone understand why the attachments show up on the thread as thumbnails sometimes and huge other times?

Forager, could you please be so kind to highlight/differentiate in red or with a star the shootings of CR and JJ on this graph (if you have more time---I don't mean to overload you or ask too much, but I'd like to see this indicated in this new graph format to see if anything new possibly jumps out...we've looked at this in so many ways, map, timeline, etc etc, lets see how it looks in the graph fwiw, tia!

 

[FindHG]

So, what do these 2 victims have in common:

1. Traveling / going somewhere /enroute.
2. Location / proximity
3. One person (no passenger).

I can't seem to think of anything else....anyone?

Things they do not have in common:

1. Gender
2. Race
3. Mode of travel
4. Day/time of incidents

A thought---how old are the victims, need to go back, just wondering, not that it has anything to do with anything...

LE has stated that they believe these victims were randomly chosen.

So, other than being a single occupant, and perhaps being in a physical location which provides a convenient opening/escape, is there something else in particular which might make one person over another be more prone to being "chosen" a potential victim?

Both victims could not shoot back or pursue the perp, it would seem to me.
Both seem more friendly and out going than the norm, warm kind people.
Both worked at stores dealing with the public.
So, similar risk assessment for the sure kills shots.

 

[margarita25]

"Why Spree Killers Are Not Serial Killers.

Spree killers do not cool off between murders like serial killers.

Post published by Scott A. Bonn Ph.D. on Jul 21, 2014 in Wicked Deeds

"More specifically, spree killers do not come down from the high of their first murder or resume their seemingly normal lives in between killings as serial killers do. The maximum duration between murders in spree killing is generally considered to be seven*days. Serial killers, on the other hand, may cool off for weeks, months and in rare instances even years between murders. *

The perpetrator in a spree killing often, but not always, knows his/her victims and frequently targets either family members or romantic partners; often for purposes of retaliation or in a fit of*rage. This is very different than serial killers who are much more likely to stalk and target complete strangers who somehow fulfill deranged and secretfantasies that only they understand.

One of the most infamous killing sprees in recent history involved the Beltway sniper attacks that took place in October 2002 in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. During a span of twenty-three days that gripped the public in fear, ten people were killed and three other victims were critically injured in separate locations throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia.

What initially appeared to be random killings perpetrated by a lone shooter in a white van actually turned out to be the work of two highly organized, homicidal partners involved in a massive, multi-state killing spree that terrified millions of Americans."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201407/why-spree-killers-are-not-serial-killers

 

[SugarQueen]

Forager, are the Saturday and Sunday shootings listed the two that were parked cars?
A few pages back I noted if we discount those two, as they were parked, one in a driveway, one in a parking lot, then we are back to everything happening Monday thru Thursday.