About This Episode
On October 2, 2002, the first shot rang out in Montgomery County, Maryland—the beginning of a terror campaign that would grip the entire Washington region for more than three weeks. A blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice sedan, driven by 41-year-old John Allen Muhammad with 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo inside, became a mobile execution chamber. Before the attacks ended, 17 people lay dead and 10 others were wounded. The nation watched in horror as snipers struck seemingly at random—at gas stations, supermarkets, and schoolyards.
Among the victims was Iran Brown, a 13-year-old boy shot outside Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Maryland. The child survived—but only after surgeons removed his spleen and parts of his pancreas. His case exemplified the violence that terrorized millions during those autumn weeks.
The weapon used was a stolen Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle fitted with a bipod. Ballistics evidence linked this rifle to 11 of 14 shootings, providing crucial forensic proof of the killers' identity. Investigators later discovered that Malvo's fingerprint matched evidence found both at the Benjamin Tasker Middle School scene and at an at a liquor store in Montgomery, Alabama, on September 21, 2002—weeks before the main spree began.