Profiles of the sniper's victims

[Blondie]

By The Associated Press

_ James Martin, 55, of Silver Spring, Md. Killed Oct. 2. A Vietnam veteran and program analyst for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. His father died when he was 8, and he worked his way through college. Martin had an 11-year-old son and was a Boy Scout leader, school volunteer and church trustee. Friends remembered him as a lover of red wine who wore funny ties to church.

_ James L. "Sonny" Buchanan, 39, of Abingdon, Va. Killed Oct. 3. A landscaper, he served on the regional board of the Boys and Girls of Greater Washington and volunteered with a Crime Solvers hot line. He had moved from Maryland to Virginia, where he and his father owned a Christmas tree farm, but still honored a contract to mow the lawn outside Fitzgerald Auto Mall in White Flint, Md. He was mowing the lawn when he was killed.

_ Prem Kumar Walekar, 54, of Olney, Md. Killed Oct. 3. He was a cab driver who immigrated at age 18 from India, where he was getting ready to spend his retirement. Relatives said he worked hard, sent money to his father in India and helped bring his siblings to America. He was a quiet man with a good sense of humor, they said.

_ Sarah Ramos, 34, of Silver Spring, Md. Killed Oct. 3. Friends described Ramos, a native of El Salvador who worked as a babysitter, as a hardworking immigrant who dreamed of building a prosperous life. Ramos was remembered as a cheerful, fun-loving wife and a doting mother of a 7-year-old son. She belonged to several church groups.

_ Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25, of Silver Spring, Md. Killed Oct. 3. Originally of Mountain Home, Idaho, she decided in junior high school that she wanted to become a nanny. After high school, she went to a nanny school in Oregon. Her father, Marion Lewis, said she was "special to everybody she met and she brought friendship and love."

_ Pascal Charlot, 72, of Washington, D.C. Killed Oct. 3. A carpenter who immigrated from Haiti years ago, he fixed things for his neighbors _ a doorjamb for one, a box around a radiator for another. He lived with his wife in a rowhouse decorated with potted flowers on the porch and tomatoes and bell peppers in a small garden.

_ Dean H. Meyers, 53, of Gaithersburg, Md. Killed Wednesday. A Vietnam veteran, Meyers was a project manager in the Manassas, Va., office of Dewberry & Davis, a civil engineering firm. Friends and co-workers said he was hardworking and thoughtful, someone who would help carry heavy packages and feed stray cats.

_ Kenneth H. Bridges, 53, of Philadelphia. Killed Friday. A businessman and father of six, he had co-founded a marketing and distribution organization. Neighbors remembered his friendliness and penchant for playing basketball with his children.

_And most recently Linda Franklin, age 47. Killed lastnight. No profile available as yet.

 

[honeywolf7]

They all sound like wonderful people.

 

[chell]

Last night on the CBS Evening News they were saying that the only connection between any of the victims was Sarah Ramos & James Martin (I believe those are the correct ones). After James was killed a friend asked the family if they would donate his car to one of his other friends, Sarah. She was shot while sitting on a bench. You wonder if the sniper shot her because he saw her get out of that car? I wonder if maybe he thought she might have seen something from the first shooting? I don't know. They have to find this person SOON!

 

[Blondie]

Since the sniper is shooting at all races and ages, I don't think there's much of a connection except that they're all innocent victims.

 

[Serena]

All innocent, and all gone.

 

[ryanpatricksmom]

Linda Franklin was an FBI analyst according to the most recent reports. Eerie twist of fate.

 

[browneyes]

There's a pattern amongst them, but we don't see it, I'm sure. Perhaps the people were seen by the sniper as doing something for someone else and that triggered a response from the sniper to execute. I wish this idiot would be found soon. I heard this morning on the radio something about a van being seen in the location yesterday and in the last attack.

Why wasn't the little boy from last week included?

 

[Krisu]

Thanks for posting this. They were all ordinary people going about their lives when tragedy struck

 

[Deb in IA]

This story from ABCnews.com gives more details of their lives, and who they were:

Private Lives, Public Deaths
Friends and Family Remember Sniper's Victims



Oct. 14 — They were doing favors for friends, going to the store, heading to work, waiting for a ride — ordinary activities that never draw much attention. We learned their names because they were victims of violence, having in common the seeming randomness with which they lost their lives.

But they all had stories worth telling, and friends and family who came forward to remember them.

"He was the type of person that when you left his presence, you said to yourself, you know, I'm going to be a little bit more like Jim. And he left an impression on you," said Larry Gaffigan, a friend of the sniper's first victim, James Martin.


He Got People Involved

Martin, 55, was killed Oct. 2 at a Shoppers Food Warehouse in Wheaton, Md., as he was picking up food for his church's youth group. Married, and the father of an 11-year-old son, Martin was also good at getting other people involved in the community, according to Gaffigan. The sniper's victims have been random and unrelated, but Gaffigan happened to know two of them.


Seeking America's Promise for Her Son

The day after Gaffigan lost his friend Martin to the sniper's bullet, his housekeeper, Sarah Ramos, was killed. Ramos, a 34-year-old Salvadoran immigrant, was one of four people fatally shot on the morning of Oct. 3. She was killed as she sat on a bench waiting for a ride to another job.

Ramos had left a very comfortable life in her community in El Salvador and very courageously came to the United States, Gaffigan said. Her husband, had been an economics professor in El Salvador, and had come here reluctantly, according to Gaffigan. But Sarah Ramos knew what America could offer her 7-year-old son, and her husband respected her wishes, Gaffigan said.


A Life Dedicated to Children

Greg Wims said his friend James 'Sonny' Buchanan did a lot of favors for the community of White Flint, Md. Buchanan, 39, was a landscaper, and was mowing the grass as a favor to an old customer when he was shot dead early Oct. 3.

Wims and Buchanan met at the Boys and Girls Clubs. Buchanan had asked Wims to help him out selling Christmas trees to raise money for the community's underprivileged. Wims said Buchanan had dedicated his life to children. "To lose his life next door to where he'd worked so hard in volunteering is a tragic loss," Wims said.

Wims is working to help not only Buchanan's family but all of the victims' families. Seven years ago, Wims founded the Washington-area Victims' Rights Foundation. Through his foundation, he is hoping to raise a quarter of a million dollars to distribute among the families.

"The Victims Rights Foundation will help every last victim's family, and we actually now are an extended family to them. When other people may forget this story, we will be there for them," Wims said.


A Devoted Family Man

Like Sarah Ramos and Sonny Buchanan, Premkumar Walekar, lost his life to a sniper's bullet on the morning of Oct. 3. Walekar, a 54-year-old taxi driver from Olney, Md., was shot and killed as he pumped gas at a station in the Aspen Hill area.

Walekar came to the United State from Bombay, India, in 1968. He worked all his life for his family, said a friend. His son and daughter are both in their 20s. Walekar's wife was returning from working a night shift at a nursing job when he passed her as he headed for work, driving a cab in Washington, according to Walekar's brother, Vijay Walekar. They waved to each other, and then went their own ways. Walekar then stopped to get gasoline at the service station where he was shot.

"We were surprised that a cruel hand could take such innocent person just with one bullet, snatching him from this world," said Lazarus Borge, Walekar's brother-in-law.


A Young, Happy Mother

Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, 25, was a graduate of the Northwest Nannies Institute in Oregon, and proud of it. She found the work she sought in the Washington, D.C.-area, and had just dropped off her 3 ½ year-old daughter at day care on the morning of Oct. 3. She then stopped to clean her car at a gasoline station when she was killed. "She was so happy. She just always had a positive attitude about everything. She was just the best person in the world," her sister, Charity Randall, said.


He Offered a Helping Hand

Pascal Charlot was a 72-year-old retired handyman who also liked to do favors for people, according to a neighbor. He'd often help them fix things at no charge. He was also caring for his ill wife.

Charlot was killed on the night of Oct. 3 as he stood on a street corner in the nation's capital, just making a trip to the store. He suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.


A Civil War Buff

Dean Meyers, a project manager at an architectural engineering firm, was killed Oct. 9 at a Sunoco gas station near Manassas, Va. Meyers, 53, was a Civil War buff who loved the outdoors-hiking and canoeing-and who also gave rides in his classic Chevy Corvette, family members said.


Working for the African-American Community

The sniper's latest victim, Kenneth Bridges of Philadelphia, was dedicated to making things better for African-Americans by helping them establish their own businesses. Bridges, 53, was shot to death on the morning of Oct. 11 at a gas station in Fredericksburg, Va. A family friend remembered him as a man who would take long walks with his wife, and celebrate birthdays with his four daughters and two sons.


An Effort to Help the Families

Wims is working to help not only his friend Sonny Buchanan's family but all of the victims' families. Seven years ago, Wims founded the Washington-area Victims' Rights Foundation. Through his foundation, he is hoping to raise a quarter of a million dollars to distribute among the families.

"The Victims Rights Foundation will help every last victim's family, and we actually now are an extended family to them. When other people may forget this story, we will be there for them," Wims said.

The list of victims was random — but also a composite of the features of which so many communities are built — immigrants and strivers; entrepreneurs and volunteers; male and female; young and old. They were all going about their everyday lives. The violence was senseless. The sum of their lives is humbling.

 

[Blondie]

Originally posted by browneyes
Why wasn't the little boy from last week included?

Becaues he lived.

They only profiled the deceased.

 

[browneyes]

Thanks, Kathy. I was wondering if they determined he wasn't one of the sniper's victims.

 

[Krisu]

Anyone hear how he's doing?