When the Task Force finally released Muhammad's name to the media it did not mention the Caprice.The capture on the 24th was the result of an enterprising reporter who caught an APB on a police scanner which gave the license number and description of the Caprice. This may well have been the information referenced in the NYT article.
According to yesterday's NYT the FBI's national data base was queried eleven times about the Caprice's license tags over a period of about a month and a half by police in the D.C. area. Four of them occurred in an 18-day period before the first shooting. In each instance no action was taken because the data base is said to contain no information on outstanding warrants.
However, when Muhammad was arraigned after his capture he was charged with a violation of Federal Gun Laws based on an outstanding warrant. The warrant stemmed from Muhammad's sale of a Bushmaster rifle similar to the one alleged to have been used in the shootings to the gun dealer (for $500) from which he had previously purchased the weapon for $800. This was a couple of months after his ex-wife had obtained a personal protection order (PPO) against him. Federal law prohibits any person the subject of a PPO possessing or owning a firearm.
If that warrant was missed when the checks were run (if they were run) there should have been another arrest warrant in the data base for Muhammad. Earlier, Muhammad and Malvo (who gave police the name of John Muhammad, Jr) were arrested on a shoplifting charge in Tacoma. Muhammad was scheduled to appear in court in March of this year but failed to show. This should have resulted in issuance of a bench warrant for his arrest.
According to yesterday's NYT the FBI's national data base was queried eleven times about the Caprice's license tags over a period of about a month and a half by police in the D.C. area. Four of them occurred in an 18-day period before the first shooting. In each instance no action was taken because the data base is said to contain no information on outstanding warrants.
However, when Muhammad was arraigned after his capture he was charged with a violation of Federal Gun Laws based on an outstanding warrant. The warrant stemmed from Muhammad's sale of a Bushmaster rifle similar to the one alleged to have been used in the shootings to the gun dealer (for $500) from which he had previously purchased the weapon for $800. This was a couple of months after his ex-wife had obtained a personal protection order (PPO) against him. Federal law prohibits any person the subject of a PPO possessing or owning a firearm.
If that warrant was missed when the checks were run (if they were run) there should have been another arrest warrant in the data base for Muhammad. Earlier, Muhammad and Malvo (who gave police the name of John Muhammad, Jr) were arrested on a shoplifting charge in Tacoma. Muhammad was scheduled to appear in court in March of this year but failed to show. This should have resulted in issuance of a bench warrant for his arrest.