Sniper trial hears of child terror plan

LEE Boyd Malvo testified yesterday that his former partner and father figure, John Allen Muhammad, told him before the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington DC area: “We’re going to terrorise this nation.”

Malvo said Muhammad also outlined a plan for six sniper shootings a day over 30 days, to be followed by a bombing campaign targeting schools, school buses and children’s hospitals.

Muhammad then planned to abduct his three children — lost in a custody battle.

Malvo said he tried to dissuade Muhammad and suggested they should simply get the children and leave the country.

Both Muhammad, 45, and Malvo, now 21, have already been convicted in Virginia for a sniper murder there. Muhammad received a death sentence while Malvo was given life in jail.

Prosecutors in Maryland are pursuing a second trial in case the Virginia conviction is overturned on appeal and to provide justice in Montgomery county, where six of the 10 killings occurred.

Malvo confessed to being the triggerman in all the shootings, after his arrest, but later told mental health experts hired by his lawyers that Muhammad, aged 45, was the principal shooter.

The pair is also suspected of shootings in Maryland, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington state.