John Allen Muhammad

John Allen Muhammad (born John Allen Williams; December 31, 1960 – November 10, 2009) was an American convicted spree killer who, along with his partner and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo (then aged 17), carried out the D.C. sniper attacks of October 2002, killing seventeen people.

Under federal law, those with restraining orders are prohibited from purchasing or possessing guns, as per the Lautenberg Amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Defense attorneys in the Malvo trial and prosecutors in Muhammad's trial argued that the ultimate goal of the Beltway sniper murders was to kill Mildred in order to regain custody of his three children.

In August 1978, Muhammad enlisted in the Louisiana Army National Guard at Baton Rouge as a combat engineer.

He transferred to the Regular Army on November 6, 1985, and was trained as a mechanic, truck driver and specialist metalworker.

He qualified with the Army's standard rifle, the M16, earning the Expert Rifleman's Badge.

This is the Army's highest of three levels of basic rifle marksmanship for a soldier.

Muhammad's first tour was with the 15th Engineer Battalion at Fort Lewis in 1985.

A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Muhammad changed his surname after joining the Nation of Islam in 1987.

At Muhammad's trial, the prosecution claimed that the attacks were part of a plot to kill his ex-wife and regain custody of his children, but the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support this argument.

In 1987, at the age of 26, Williams joined the Nation of Islam, and subsequently helped provide security for the "Million Man March" in 1995.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has publicly distanced himself and his organization from the D.C. sniper attacks.

In 1991, he served in the Gulf War with a company that dismantled Iraqi chemical warfare rockets, service for which he received the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia) and the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait).

In 1992, he was at Fort Ord, California, with the 13th Engineers and in 1993 was back at Fort Lewis with the 14th Engineer Battalion.

Muhammad was honorably discharged from the Army with the rank of sergeant on April 24, 1994, after 16 years of service.

He received the following awards: Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Overseas Ribbon, Noncommissioned Officers Professional Development Ribbon and Army Achievement Medal.

Police followed a lead in which Muhammad or Malvo left a note at one of the shootings to tell the police to investigate a liquor store robbery-murder that had occurred in Montgomery, Alabama.

Investigators responding to that crime scene found one of the suspects had dropped a magazine with his fingerprints on it; these were subsequently identified as belonging to Malvo, whose prints were on file with the INS and who was known to associate with Muhammad.

They had lived together for around a year in Tacoma, Washington, where Malvo used the alias John Lee Malvo.

In 1999, Williams kidnapped his children and took them to Antigua, apparently engaging in credit card and immigration document fraud.

It was during this time that he became close with Lee Boyd Malvo, a Jamaican child who later acted as his partner in the killings.

Williams changed his name to John Allen Muhammad in October 2001.

After his arrest, authorities also claimed that Muhammad admitted that he admired and modeled himself after Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda and approved of the September 11 attacks.

Malvo testified that Muhammad had indoctrinated him into believing that the proceeds of an extortion attempt would be used to establish "a camp in Canada where homeless children would be trained as terrorists."

Muhammad was twice divorced; his second ex-wife, Mildred Muhammad, sought and was granted a restraining order, alleging abuse.

Muhammad was arrested on federal charges of violating the restraining order by possessing a weapon.

Muhammad and Malvo were arrested in connection with the attacks on October 24, 2002, following tips from alert citizens.

Muhammad's identification led to the discovery that he had purchased a former police car, a blue Chevrolet Caprice, in New Jersey on September 11, 2002.

A lookout broadcast to the public on that vehicle resulted in the arrest of Muhammad and Malvo when the car was spotted parked at an Interstate 70 rest stop in Myersville, Maryland.

Muhammad's trial for one of the murders (of Dean Harold Meyers in Prince William County, Virginia) began in October 2003, and ended with his conviction for capital murder.

Four months later he was sentenced to death.

While awaiting execution in Virginia, in August 2005, Muhammad was extradited to Maryland for trial, resulting in his conviction on six counts of first-degree murder in May 2006.

Upon completion of the trial activity in Maryland, he was returned to Virginia pending an agreement with another state or the District of Columbia seeking to try him.

He was not tried on additional charges in other Virginia jurisdictions and faced potential trials in three other states and the District of Columbia involving other murders and attempted murders.

All appeals of his conviction for killing Meyers had been made and rejected.

Appeals for Muhammad's other trials remained pending at the time of his execution.

Muhammad was executed by lethal injection on November 10, 2009, at 9:06 p.m. EST at the Greensville Correctional Center near Jarratt, Virginia, and was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m. EST. Muhammad declined to make a final statement.

John Allan Muhammad was born John Allen Williams in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Ernest and Eva Williams.

John and his family moved to New Orleans when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer; she died when he was three years old.

His father left the family soon afterward, leaving John to be raised mainly by his maternal grandfather and an aunt.