I saw a post by Quicktrader in another D&E topic that mentions:
‘James L. Summer reported, that his son and some friends were at the shack (of Domingos/Edwards) when two bullets were fired at them from the direction of the railroad tracks near the highway. The bullets came close enough, Summer said, so that the boys could hear them whistling through the air.’
I assume this was before the murders took place? I remember also reading that some surfers reported being shot at whilst in the water by the mystery sniper the same summer. It’s curious that, if it’s all one perp, he doesn’t seem to have been a very good marksman. With gun culture as it is in the US (and I assume how it was back then) it would surely have been easy and quite normal for a rifle owner to spend plenty of time at a range perfecting their skill. So why all the bad shots?
Did he start off enjoying scaring people by deliberately missing?
Would the first successful shot be his first kill, thereby making him unusually nervous or hesitant to commit?
Was he too young legally to be in possession of/use the weapon he had and therefore unable to practice regularly?
Was he in possession of a poor quality weapon that was difficult to use?
If the sniper activity is related to this case then any or all of the above may have contributed to the events that unfolded – sick of always missing, he may have brought along the rope to ensure his targets didn’t escape on this occasion.
It’s also worth noting that all of the possible reasons I mention are likely to relate to a younger perpetrator as age, money, and experience could solve most of the problems.
Also worth noting is that if this is related to the Swindle murder a year later, the murderer has in that instance finally graduated to taking the first accurate shots from a distance.
Check out my website: www.darkideas.net
I think there’s a real possibility that the sniper incidents are related to the D&E murders
There is more than one way to lose your life to a killer
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/
http://zodiackillersite.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Morf13ZKS
Just a thought
We got a remmington 22 semi-auto rifle through the trading stamp program at the grocery stores had back then ,many people got the rifle as it was a good deal with the value of the stamps. you could be 5 yrs old and get it sent to you if you posted the stamps and mailed it in ,they mailed you the gun.
Ours was accurate ,but it got dirty after 25 shots, thus off quite a bit and you had to clean the barrel ,still use it some .
yea..i dont like certainties in any Z aspect..but sniper type reports and then D/E homicide..thats a fairly certain connection..no way to ever know if it was Z though
jamesmsv said;
"James L. Summer reported, that his son and some friends were at the shack
(of Domingos/Edwards) when two bullets were fired at them from the direction
of the railroad tracks near the highway. The bullets came close enough, Summer
said, so that the boys could hear them whistling through the air."
snooter said;
…"no way to ever know if it was Z though."
I’d say there is a small possibility that it could be determined if Z fired those
shots.
Looking at the layout of the land, it’s reasonable to figure that Z was standing
at the edge of highway shoulder, on the railway tracks or along the pathway
down to the beach. (Nin provided the overhead views for 1963 and circa 2008).;
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=104&p=141&hilit=nin#p141
The area of the path next to Cañada Del Molino, California isn’t so different in 2019,
although some trees are closer;
@34.4709662,-120.168776,317m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80eeb2d0451ef55b:0x4cd304af80836cf6!8m2!3d34.4697119!4d-120.1684808″> https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ca%C3 … 20.1684808
A .22LR pistol will throw (eject) a shell casing about within a couple of metres
from where it was fired. So there should be a several shell casings within a
couple of metres of the edge of the highway, at the railroad tracks or to the
west side a ways along path (which at that time and mostly today, is scraggly
bush – knee high?). If Z moved off the path, that magnifies the possible area
greatly. A small head metal dector might be able to pick up the shell casings
(probably brass) near the path or just forward of the highway edge. Forget the
railway tracks for metal detecting, of course, although it would be worth walking
along the tracks in the minûte hope of eyeballing something amongst the stone
track bedding, and taking care not to catch a train in the process.
As Z didn’t kill anyone with these shots, it is likely he continued using the same
weapon, therefore the shell casings should have identical firing pin/extractor
claw/ejector post impressions as the shell casings from the weapon that killed
Domingos and Edwards.
I’ve seen metal detector guys blow an hour plus on looking for coins, etc. at
beaches and parks(after circus/amusements rides had departed) so it’s not so
impossible to consider.
(Shrug) just saying…
John B. Averitt lists several of the newspaper reports of sniper incidents
nearby in place and time to that location, (at video time 05:00) ;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEAa4k3sXnw
