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the robbery of an off licence in Montgomery, Alabama, just a month earlier.
That set in motion a chain of events that led to the capture of Muhammad and Malvo four days later, ending 23 days of random attacks in the Washington D.C. area.
Evidence Investigators soon learned that a crime similar to the one described in the call had indeed taken place, and that fingerprint and ballistic evidence were available from the case.
An agent gathered the evidence and quickly flew to Washington, arriving on October 21.
While the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives handled the ballistic evidence, agents took fingerprint evidence to the FBI laboratory.
The next morning, the fingerprint database produced a match – a magazine dropped at the crime scene bore the fingerprints of Lee Boyd Malvo from a previous arrest in Washington State.
And the arrest record provided another vital lead, mentioning a man named John Allen Muhammad.
Work with ATF agents revealed that Gulf War veteran Muhammad had a Bushmaster .223 rifle in his possession – a federal violation since he’d been served with a restraining order to stay away from his ex-wife.
That allowed the Feds to charge him with federal weapons violations and with
Malvo clearly connected, the FBI and ATF jointly obtained a federal material witness warrant for him.
Meanwhile, on October 22, agents searched their criminal records database and found that Muhammad had registered a blue Chevy Caprice with the licence plate of NDA-21Z in New Jersey.
Arrest
That description was given to the news media and shared far and wide, leading to the eventual arrest of the two snipers.
Many relatives of Muhammad’s victims had travelled thousands of miles to see his final moments.
Sentenced to death in 2003, it was now six years later and his last appeal for clemency had been dismissed.
On the evening of November 10, 2009, Muhammad would finally pay the ultimate price for his crimes.
Prosecutors said his and his sidekick’s shootings were part of a plot to extort $10 million from local and state governments, although this never properly ascertained.
He had a final meal but demanded the items eaten stayed private.
And he made no comment whatsoever when asked if he had any final words.
Six short minutes after he was injected, Muhammad was dead.
It was finally over.