In The News

D.C. sniper’s execution date set; driver played pivotal role in capture

RICHMOND, Va. — The man known as the D.C. sniper was back in the news last month when a Virginia judge Sept. 16 set a Nov. 10 execution date for John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington area that left 10 dead.

People likely remember the case, the huge manhunt for him and the bazaar turn in which his accomplice was found to be a then 17-year-old Jamaican citizen named Lee Malvo.

But what they may not remember is truck driver Ron Lantz’s role in the episode. It was Lantz who first spotted the two suspects’ Chevrolet Caprice just before dawn at a rest stop in October of 2002.

Lantz had heard the car’s description given out on a trucking radio program. After calling 911, Lantz blocked the exit with his truck.

“They told me, ‘We’ll be there as soon as possible,’” Lantz told reporters at the time. “They said, just stay right where you’re at.”

After someone at the scene suggested Lantz block the rest stop’s exit with his truck he did. “I just sat there and waited, kept watching my mirrors,” he said. “It was all I could do.”

Later Lantz said he wasn’t a hero; he was just doing what he was supposed to do. Lantz was just short of being able to retire at the time.

Muhammad, then 41, is an Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War.

A Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle, a scope , a tripod and a sniper platform were recovered from the suspects’ 1990 Chevy and the rifle was later forensically determined to be the murder weapon.

The Bushmaster is the civilian version of the Colt-manufactured M-16 used by the U.S. military. In the military, however, Muhammad wasn’t trained as a sniper nor was he in Special Forces. He served in combat support missions as a mechanic and water truck driver, CNN reported at the time of his arrest.

Jonathan Sheldon, Muhammad's attorney, said Muhammad would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and ask Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for clemency.

Muhammad was sentenced to death for the slaying of Dean Meyers, who was shot at a Manassas gas station during the three-week killing spree throughout Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

He and accomplice, Malvo, were also suspected of shootings in several other states, including a killing in Louisiana and another in Alabama. Malvo is serving life in prison. Three persons were wounded in the attacks.

A federal appeals court last month rejected Muhammad's argument that prosecutors withheld critical evidence and that he never should have been allowed to act as his own attorney for a portion of his trial because he was too mentally impaired.

The attorney general's office declined to comment last month.

Cheryll Witz said she wants to witness the execution personally. Her father, Jerry Taylor, was shot and killed by Malvo on a Tucson, Ariz., golf course in March 2002 at Muhammad's direction.

"It's definitely about justice," she said. "The death penalty is the only justice for him."

Associated Press sources contributed to this report.         

The Trucker staff can be contacted to comment on this article at [email protected].

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