D.C. sniper attacks
| D.C. sniper attacks | |
|---|---|
Locations of the fifteen sniper attacks in the D.C. area numbered chronologically. | |
| Location | Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Arizona, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and Washington |
| Date | February 16 – September 26, 2002 (preliminary shootings) October 2–24, 2002 (sniper attacks) |
| Target | Civilians in the Washington metropolitan area |
Attack type | Spree killing, mass murder |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 17 (10 in sniper attacks, 7 in preliminary shootings) |
| Injured | 10 (3 in sniper attacks, 7 in preliminary shootings) |
| Perpetrators | John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo |
| Motive |
|
The D.C. sniper attacks (also known as the Beltway sniper attacks) were a series of coordinated shootings that occurred over three weeks in October 2002 throughout the Washington metropolitan area, consisting of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. These were preceded by a series of murders and robberies in several states starting in February 2002. Seven people were killed, and seven others were injured in the preliminary shootings, and ten people were killed and three others were critically wounded in the October shootings. In total, the snipers killed 17 people and wounded 10 others in a 10-month span.
The snipers were two men, John Allen Muhammad (41 years old at the time) and Lee Boyd Malvo (17 years old at the time), who traveled in a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice sedan.
In 2003, Muhammad was sentenced to death, and in 2009, he was executed by lethal injection. Malvo, a juvenile, received six life sentences in Maryland and three in Virginia. In 2017, Malvo's life sentences in Virginia were vacated without parole on appeal.