Former Md. Police Chief Returns To Reflect On 10th Anniversary Of D.C.Sniper Attacks

WASHINGTON (WJZ)—Our region is marking 10 years since the D.C. sniper spree. And those closest to the crime are reflecting on the terror that gripped us all.

Mary Bubala reports.

It is hard to let go of the terror felt on those unforgettable 22 days in October 2002.

"Just a lot of chaos, everybody was scared," one woman recalled.

Some still have fresh memories 10 years after the D.C. sniper killing spree. For one man in particular, the decade has passed in the blink of an eye.

"In some ways it feels like two years," said Charles Moose.

The former Montgomery County Police Chief  was the public face of the massive task force assembled to catch the snipers.

Now, retired and living in Florida, he has returned to the D.C. area now to look back.

"The fact that there wasn't a target group made everyone a potential target and that increased the fear," he said.

Moose admits that as the death toll rose to 10 in 15 separate shootings, investigators never even considered the killers could be shooting from a car.

He now says modern technology, especially police tag readers linked to computers, would have caught John Allen Mohammad and Lee Boyd Malvo in their modified Chevy Caprice much sooner.

Even so, 10 years removed, he is proud of the work his team did.

"I can't believe we got it solved so quickly, even though there was pressure in people upset that we didn't even solve it quicker," Moose said.

In the end, it took 22 days to catch the snipers. Mohammed was executed in 2009. Malvo is serving six consecutive life terms.

Tuesday night, Moose, survivors of the shooting and other investigators spoke at a panel discussion. They talked about the unprecedented way multiple agencies worked together to track down the killers.