A headline in the Washington Post, October 3, 2002, read: "Arbitrary Victims, Identical Fate: County's Growing Diversity Reflected in Those Gunned Down."

[Ed.: A great deal of surprise accompanied the revelation that the alleged Beltway Sniper turned out to be someone other than a lone white man. Still, reporters often used "Army veteran" as an epithet to characterize John Allen Muhammad, one of the two men accused, rather than "Al-Qaeda sympathizer."]

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