Sniper’s ex-wife may have been ultimate target

THE ex-wife of Washington sniper John Muhammad has said she called police to report a car similar to the one used in the killing spree near her home — supporting a defence argument that she was the ultimate target.

Lawyers for teenage sniper suspect Lee Malvo say last year's killing spree was part of a plan by Muhammad to kill his ex-wife an argument the prosecutor called "nonsense".

Mildred Muhammad testified at Malvo's capital murder trial in Chesapeake, Virginia, that she saw the car on October 11, 2002 one week after the Washington DC-area sniper shootings began near her home in the Washington suburbs as she left for work. The passenger concealed his face behind a newspaper.