Oklahoma search for a Glock in murders of 2 girls, but something smells!

[red-beard]

They say they are looking for a glock. They know it was a .40 Caliber that killed the girls, but how do they know it was a Glock? Does the glock change the bullet in some "speacial" way? The handgun was not recovered. Now they are scouring the sales lists of .40 glocks in the surrounding area. I didn't know local law enforcement can look at the BATF records on sales, and I don't think they can. They are also "questioning" 20 or so gun owners, as to WHY they wouldn't submit their guns to be tested.

So, Oklahoma is assuming that "one" of the legal hand gun owners is the killer. Or maybe the owner "loaned" a gun to someone.

Why do we let the Police treat legal gun owners this way? Sounds like the NRA needs to get invovled in this one.

40-Caliber Glock Used in Slaying of Oklahoma Girls
Friday, August 22, 2008
By Sara Bonisteel

It was a .40-caliber Glock.
In their latest effort to solve a double-murder that thus far has neither motive nor suspects, Oklahoma police have revealed the make of one of the weapons used to kill two young girls on a country road nearly 10 weeks ago.
Police say two guns were used to kill 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Jade Whitaker as they took an afternoon walk down County Line Road in Okfuskee County on June 8. It's a "brutal and deliberate" crime that has stymied investigators in this rural area 70 miles south of Tulsa.
"Since we don't have a motive, we just can't look in one direction for a certain person," Jessica Brown, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, told FOXNews.com. "It's wide open."

In a state that doesn't require gun registration, officials have had to canvas local pawn shops to check sales records for Glocks. They compiled a list of 60 gun owners and tested the weapons of about 40 last weekend. But they still need to test more.

"Here's the only way it's going to help us probably, if someone just bought a gun or they loaned it to someone recently right before the homicides and got it back," Brown said.
Officials said they were checking up with the remaining 20 gun owners to see why they chose not to have their weapons tested. "We just want people to cooperate so we can find this weapon, and then the person who had it in his hand," Brown said.
Whoever shot the girls was thorough. The state Medical Examiner's office found Whitaker had eight wounds to the arms, chest, abdomen and neck, and Paschal-Placker had five gunshot wounds to the head, groin and hand.
The girls were best friends; they were killed as they walked down to a bridge for exercise during a sleepover weekend. Authorities suspect the killers live in the area, and that has the county's 11,250 residents living in fear.
At the girls' school, classes are on lockdown throughout the school day, and the small school body is down by about 10 students.
"We’ve really tightened up our security here," Wanda Mankin, the elementary principal of Graham School, said.
Students, who have been offered professional counseling, were given green and purple bracelets that read "In Memory of Taylor and Skyla B.F.F." when school started on Aug. 7. The colors were the girls' favorites.
"One of our bus routes used to go by the crime scene, and we rerouted the bus even though it takes a little longer and a little more fuel," Mankin said. "We don’t go by there anymore."
Investigators have been searching for a "person of interest" in the case since mid-June. Described as a 6-foot American Indian, about 35, with long black hair, he was seen driving a white Ford or Chevy single-cab pickup truck on County Line Road around the time of the shooting.
Indian activists have said they aren't surprised police haven't been able to find him.
"That could be any Indian in Oklahoma," said Brenda Golden, an activist originally from Weleetka.
Authorities say the description is all they have to go on.
"There’s nothing we can do about that," Brown said. "That’s exactly what the multiple witnesses told us. We asked them to get more specific, of course, and that’s the best they could do."
Golden, who now lives in Oklahoma City, said the fear of police persecution is one reason the large Indian community isn't talking.
"We're not going to get treated fairly," she said shortly after the murders. "Automatically people are assuming that this Indian did something wrong just because he was in the vicinity."
Police stress the Indian is not a suspect.
"He was just seen in the area close to the time the girls were shot and killed," Brown said. "That is such a remote area that that stood out to us."
Late last month, investigators released the tape of Taylor's grandmother calling 911 in an effort to warm a cooling trail of leads. Brown said it gave investigators good tips, but still, no arrests.
"This is unusual, but we have many cases where it's a whodunit that we have to go to the public to ask for help," Brown said.
In this case, all investigators have had to go on is a rural crime scene, the bullet-riddled bodies of two little girls and an inkling that these friends may have stumbled upon someone doing something so bad it led to murder.
"When it all finally comes together, I hope we’re wrong," Mankin said. "I do hope it's not someone who lives here among us."

[on2wheels52]

I believe a Glock barrell is rifled differently than most makes, polygonal is the word that comes to mind but may not be correct. A recovered jacket would show the grooves. I don't think it works well with cast bullets, nor does Marlin's "micro groove".
Jim

[Pat S]

I thought the same thing at first but then remembered that Glock uses polygonal rifling. This would leave flat spots instead of rifling marks on the edges of the bullets recovered.

Glock probably makes more handguns with this style barrel than anyone, but there are others. H&K makes a USP model in .40. Wikipedia says "Heckler & Koch, Glock, Magnum Research, Noveske Rifleworks and Kahr Arms" all use them. Not sure if the others (aside from H&K) make them in .40 also and/or if they use the same octagonal measurements as Glock. If they use a 7-sided octagon or perhaps one with with more or less rounded edges in the octagon, it could be a distinguishing identifier.

So, while I hate the whole "assault weapon" & "automatic weapon" crap the media uses as a scare tactic, I think the Glock part of this at least has the potential to be factual.

Pat

[Pat S]

Dang... While i was researching polygonal, on2wheels52 beat me to the post

[dewolf]

What sort of sick F>>>K could do that to kids. Hope they catch the MoFo and stick him in a cell with Bubba.

[BeyGon]

Gang Initiation? Doesn't have to be from the area, any big towns close?

[varmint]

lots of evil crap going on.

girls probably stumbled on a couple guys loading meth into a car.




i understand the cops are desperate. but i dislike the idea of having to prove my innocence every time somebody with the same model gun as me commits a crime.

[Danny_Ocean]

The marks left on the casings from the Glock extractor are unique compared to other manufacturer's.

[Rick Lee]

Did they recover any casings or are they going on bullets recovered from the girls' bodies? I think most .40 cal. barrels are interchangeable with 9mm and .357SIG barrels. I know, if I had committed this crime and wanted to keep the gun, I'd toss that barrel in a lake and drop in a different one. Also, the characterics of a barrel change with the more rounds fired through it. So theoretically, the killer could also just put a few thousand rounds down the pipe since the murder and it might change the barrel enough to throw ballsitics experts off even if they recovered the right gun.

I thought FFL records were available only in criminal investigations. They can't just go browsing through them to look for guns, but if they are looking for one specifically that is suspected in a crime, then they can do it, no?

[id10t]

Some points brought up from a gun forum:

1) No registration, but some how all area owners of Glock 40s got the letter.

2) One of the owners asked if the local PD's guns were being checked, since they are all glock 40s. Answer - Nope!

3) Of the 60 or so letters sent, only 40 owners showed up


You can search the general discussion on forums.gunbroker.com - there are copies of the letter posted.

[legion]

Originally Posted by varmint

i understand the cops are desperate. but i dislike the idea of having to prove my innocence every time somebody with the same model gun as me commits a crime.

It's unconstitutional.

Originally Posted by id10t

1) No registration, but some how all area owners of Glock 40s got the letter.

That is very worrying. Just think of how Chicago or New York would approach this. Bust down the door of every G23 owner and confiscate their gun for ballistics testing? Talk about illegal search and seizure. Of course, no media outrage. Now imagine if the girls had been mowed down with a Ford Focus and the local PD sent a letter to all Ford Focus owners...

Originally Posted by id10t

2) One of the owners asked if the local PD's guns were being checked, since they are all glock 40s. Answer - Nope!

The police protect their own and pretty much blindly believe that their fellow officers are always innocent. Do a search on how Drew Peterson's third wife's death was handled.