Sniper Victims Get Cash Grants
A charitable foundation has distributed thousands of dollars to Washington-area sniper victims, the first money distributed to survivors of the shootings and families of those killed during the spree.
But authorities are delaying distributing any cash from the fund set up as a reward for information leading to the capture of the suspects.
Checks for $18,571.43 from the Victims' Rights Foundation were either hand-delivered or mailed over the weekend to the families of 10 people killed and the four people wounded in the region in September and October, said foundation head Gregory Wims.
The foundation raised $260,000 from 2,000 donations. Gifts ranged from a $3.50 money order to $70,000 from an affordable housing charity. Additional money will be raised through Dec. 31.
The funds will help families get through the holidays "without wondering where the mortgage payments are coming from or where the car payments will come from," said Ellen Alexander, a Montgomery County police official who has worked with the sniper victims.
About 15 funds have been established since the sniper attacks, many that specifically help children and other survivors of people who died. The Victims' Rights Foundation and an account set up by Montgomery County are among the few that benefit the victims as a group.
John Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, are charged with murder in Maryland and Virginia in attacks that left 10 people dead and three others critically wounded in the Washington, D.C., area. They are also charged with an Alabama slaying.
Who gets a piece of the half-million-dollar reward for the capture of the suspects may take awhile to decide, authorities said Tuesday.
Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who led the investigation into the sniper shootings last month, will head the team that decides who gets the reward.
Moose said Tuesday that officials are "very cognizant" that the reward could create a situation where it appeared a witness was being paid for his testimony.
"Do not be upset if the process takes awhile, if it does not take place immediately," Moose said. "That's not going to happen. … We want to be very careful."
Montgomery County, Md., Executive Doug Duncan said the sniper task force is sorting through about 60,000 tips that were received during the search for the snipers.
"We don't have an easy answer to that (reward) question," Duncan said at a news conference.
Of the $580,244.77 that was raised, $500,000 will be given out as a reward. The remainder will be given to victims of the shooting and their families. The money was donated by more than 900 contributors.
The reward in the sniper case compared well with rewards offered by the FBI. While top terrorist suspects like Osama bin Laden would fetch a $25 million payout, and notorious Boston mob figure James J. "Whitey" Bulger has a $1 million price on him, only $50,000 is offered for most of the residents on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted.