WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Prosecutors from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia were to meet Friday to discuss further charges against two suspects arrested in the Washington area sniper shootings that left 10 people dead, three wounded and created one of the largest manhunts in the region's history.
Both John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, are likely to be indicted Friday on first degree murder charges for the six sniper killings that took place in Maryland.
The two men were arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Muhammad, a U.S. Army veteran with an expert's rating in marksmanship, was arraigned on federal firearms charges and failure to obey a protective order. Malvo was held as a material witness and as a minor.
No charges in connection with the shootings have been filed against either suspect. It was not clear whether Muhammad would be charged with all the shootings, or whether authorities suspect he and Malvo took turns. Authorities said they were also investigating the possibility that others were involved in the killings.
An assault rifle found in a car in which the two men were arrested early Thursday has been linked to the sniper shootings, which began Oct. 2.
"We now consider them suspects in the string of shootings in Virginia, Maryland and D.C.," Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said Thursday. The weapon has been linked to at least 11 of the 14 shooting incidents, including eight killings. In one shooting, no one was hurt.
The two suspects were arrested at a rest stop in Frederick County, Md. around 1:00 a.m. EDT. This was shortly after Moose said they were wanted for questioning in connection with the sniper attacks and that federal firearms charges had been filed against Muhammad.
The two men were spotted by a truck driver at the rest stop off I-70 shortly before 1:00 a.m. while they were sleeping in a car that matched a police description: a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey license plates.
They were arrested at about 3:30 a.m. after police closed off a 7-mile stretch of the interstate and evacuated the rest stop where the car was parked.
"They were taken into custody without incident," the spokesman said. "No resistance."
After authorities received warrants authorizing a search of the vehicle, several duffel bags were found, along with a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle -- the same caliber used in the shootings. Police also discovered what they described as a scope and tripod for the weapon.
The 14 shootings had been linked by several elements: the use of a .223 caliber rifle, a shooter who only fires one shot per victim from between 50 and 150 yards, and various reports of a white van or box truck leaving the scene of the shootings.
Investigators said they were relieved to have taken the men into custody, as they feared a violent confrontation when they finally found the shooter.
Investigators had received information Wednesday that the sniper attacks were linked to a liquor store robbery in September in Montgomery, Ala. Investigators are now convinced that tip came from the suspects themselves. The shooter and police officials have been engaged in communication through the media, notes left at crime scenes, and, apparently, phone calls.
A Justice Department official confirmed Thursday to United Press International that Malvo had left a fingerprint at the scene of the Alabama shootings. The single print was found on a gun catalog left behind after a confrontation with a police officer.
FBI agents served a warrant earlier Wednesday in Tacoma, Wash., at the request of the D.C.-area task force investigating the sniper attacks. The warrant was served on a home apparently rented by Muhammad, or a close friend.
Physical evidence was collected at the scene, which appeared to be a tree stump -- from which investigators hope to extract spent rounds that match those in the victims -- and other bullets and shell casings from the ground.
The stump was immediately flown to the East Coast by an Air Force transport plane.
Authorities Wednesday connected the death of bus driver Conrad Johnson, 35, to the string of shootings. The first shooting -- about 5:20 p.m., Oct. 2 -- linked to the sniper went through a crafts store window but did not wound anyone.
The sniper has been blamed for five shootings -- including four deaths -- within a mile of Tuesday's incident in which Johnson was killed. Two other attacks have occurred a few miles south of the site and another just inside the District of Columbia border from Maryland. Another attack on Maryland resulted in the wounding of a 13-year-old boy outside a school on Oct. 7.
There have been five assaults in Virginia. In addition to the wounding of the man in Ashland, a woman in Spotsylvania was also wounded but survived, while two men and a woman were killed.
The arrests and possible indictment on the sniper attacks left investigators and the military scrambling to find out as much as possible about Muhammad's background, both in the military and in his personal life.
The FBI pulled Muhammad's Army records from the National Personnel Record Center, which contain both private and public information about every individual's military service. The records show honors, awards, special training and assignments.
Although he received no sniper training, Muhammad qualified as an expert marksman with an M-16 in the U.S. Army, a defense official told UPI. "Expert" is the highest level of achievement in marksmanship in the Army.
The standard test for expert marksman involves "knocking down" a minimum of 36 targets with only 40 rounds of ammunition, from distances of 50 to 300 meters, the official said. How often and in what years Muhammad qualified as an expert is unclear from his record, the official added.
Williams, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, served on active duty in the Army from Nov. 6, 1985 to April 26, 1994, when he was discharged at Ft. Lewis, Washington.
He achieved the rank of sergeant.
The circumstances and condition of his discharge are not publicly releasable, according to the defense official.
