Sniper Affects Lives of Everyday Mainers in D.C.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2002–Caileen Nutter’s memories of crisp autumn days in Maine are filled with camping trips, hiking excursions, and biking down scenic streets, never thinking twice about her safety. She would walk around the University of Maine’s Orono campus last fall like every college student, with her books in hand.
This October has been different. If Nutter was carrying a book, she’d nervously clutch it to her chest, hoping that maybe it would serve as some sort of protection against the sniper’s next bullet.
Nutter, 21, was breathing a sigh of relief Thursday. Two men were arrested early that morning in connection with the sniper attacks in the D.C. area, though as of mid-afternoon Thursday they had not been officially charged with the murders.
“I feel much better,” Nutter, who moved to this area last January to work for Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins, said in a phone interview. “I trust the police work that’s being done.”
John Allen Muhammad, 42, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were taken into custody by police at a rest stop near Frederick, Md., about 60 miles northwest of Washington. Malvo is reportedly Muhammad’s stepson.
Nutter was one of countless people living in and around the Washington suburbs who became increasingly nervous as the elusive sniper’s deadly game started three weeks ago.
The sniper shot 13 people, leaving 10 dead and three wounded.
“It’s the utter randomness and senselessness of the attacks that makes it scary,” Nutter said.
But not everyone was fearful of the sniper. Bangor resident Garrett Corbin, 20, is a Boston University student spending a semester here, and he said that although his parents worried for his safety, he never thought to change his normal daily routine.
“You can’t really protect yourself against it,” Corbin said. “If he starts to shoot in my neighborhood, then I’ll worry. I’d be more scared if I lived in the suburbs, but living in the center of town, not so much.”
Nutter’s home in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Va., is less than 20 minutes away from a shooting last week in a Home Depot parking lot where a woman was killed by the sniper.
Nutter said she rarely walked around her neighborhood unless she was with her roommates or driving in a car. She’d even duck into a store if a white van passed her by on the street.
Although she said she was comforted knowing that the possible snipers have been caught, she added that she will “wait for confirmation” from police before feeling completely at ease again.
Crystal Bozek contributed to this story.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
