Police spotted suspects' car 10 times during sniper spree
By Craig Whitlock and Josh White
Washington Post

Authorities in the Washington region spotted the same faded blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice and recorded its New Jersey plates on at least 10 different occasions this month, but saw no reason to link it to the sniper attacks until this week, law enforcement sources said Friday.

Ten times, authorities thought the car warranted enough suspicion that they ran its license-plate number through a national police database, sources said. Each time, however, they let the driver go after finding no record that it had been stolen or that its occupants were wanted for any crimes.

Police said the weather-beaten Chevrolet with whitewall tires did not attract closer scrutiny because they were mistakenly fixated on other vehicles -- a white van, a box truck, a cream-colored Toyota.

``We were looking for a white van with white people, and we ended up with a blue car with black people,'' said Washington, D.C., Police Chief Charles Ramsey, whose department ran the Caprice's license Oct. 3, just hours before a fatal shooting in Washington that has been tied to the sniper suspects, John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17.

Little wonder the M&M shooters were laughing
at the police.

During all the white box truck mayhem I was always wondered if the real shooters would just stroll right on thru the police roadblocks after the shootings... I'd imagine it happened.