The tarot card message that turned a random killing spree into a hunt for 'God'

🚨 THE TAROT CARD THAT READ 'CALL ME GOD'

The card was a piece of evidence, found at a crime scene during the investigation of the October 2002 shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area.

The handwritten message read "Call me God."

The words turned a random killing spree into a hunt for a self-styled deity.

The card is documented.

It exists in the record of the case, a tangible object retrieved by police, its message preserved.

But what the message meant was never established.

It is not known if it was a taunt, a signature, or something else entirely.

The intent behind the tarot card message is not established.

The card is a documented piece of evidence, yet any interpretation of it as a motive or taunt remains speculative.

Who wrote it?

Why was it left?

Was it meant to be found?

That would require evidence.

The record does not provide it.

The card became a symbol of the attack, a chilling layer on top of the randomness.

The shootings themselves were random, with no apparent connection between victims.

People were shot while pumping gas, mowing a lawn, loading groceries.

The first killing occurred on October 2 outside a grocery store in Wheaton, Maryland.

The victim was James D. Martin, described by his family as a beloved father and husband.

The attack appeared random.

The card offered a different kind of question.

It suggested a mind behind the chaos, a voice claiming authority over the fear.

But the voice was never proven to be anything more than ink on cardboard.

OCTOBER 2 — THE FIRST SHOT OUTSIDE A GROCERY STORE

October 2 began like any other Tuesday in Wheaton, Maryland.

James D. Martin had finished his shopping and was loading his groceries into his car.

The store was a small shopping center on University Boulevard, a place where neighbors ran into neighbors.

The shot came without warning.

Martin fell to the ground beside his vehicle.

He was 55 years old, a man his family would later describe as a beloved father and husband.

The killing appeared random. No connection to the victim has ever been established.

Police arrived to find a body, a car half-loaded with groceries, and no motive.

They had no suspects.

They had no explanation for why James D. Martin, of all people, was dead.

His family spoke publicly in the days that followed, describing the sudden void in their lives.

They described a husband who was dependable, a father who was present.

They did not describe an enemy. They did not describe a reason.

The attack appeared to be a lottery of place and time, a matter of being in the wrong parking lot at the wrong moment.

That would be the shape of the fear to come.

Not because anyone knew who was shooting. But because no one knew why.

The record does not establish a motive for the attack on Martin.

It establishes only that he was killed, and that his death was the first.

23 DAYS OF FEAR — PUMPING GAS, MOWING A LAWN, LOADING GROCERIES

It lasted 23 days.

Ten people were killed and three others wounded in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

A man was shot while loading groceries into his minivan.

A man was shot while mowing the lawn at a car dealership.

A man was shot while pumping gas at a Shell station.

A woman was shot while sitting on a bench at a bus stop.

Each victim was doing something ordinary.

Each attack left no apparent connection between the shooter and the shot.

The randomness caused widespread fear across the region.

Schools kept children indoors during recess.

Adults zigzagged as they walked to their cars in parking lots, trying to make themselves harder to hit.

People held their breath at gas pumps.

The final fatal attack came on October 22, when a bus driver was killed in Aspen Hill, Maryland.

He was standing on the steps of his bus.

The record does not establish why he was chosen.

It establishes only that he was the last.

The source names ten of the dead: James D. Martin, James L. Buchanan, Premkumar Walekar, Sarah Ramos, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera, Pascal Charlot, Dean Harold Meyers, Kenneth Bridges, Linda Franklin, and Conrad Johnson.

It does not list every victim's identity in full.

But the named ones were people with routines, with families, with ordinary Tuesdays.

Linda Franklin was an FBI analyst, killed outside a Home Depot.

Her husband was with her when she was shot.

He was not hit.

He later spoke publicly about the sudden void in his family's life.

James D. Martin was the first, described by his family as a beloved father and husband.

The fear was not abstract.

It was the fear of a lawn, a pump, a grocery bag.

It was the fear of being seen.

THE WITNESS AND THE WHITE VAN — A FALSE LEAD

The fear was not abstract.

It was the fear of a lawn, a pump, a grocery bag.

It was the fear of being seen.

Then, in September 2002, a witness at a shooting in Montgomery County, Alabama, gave police something they did not have.

A description.

The witness described a white van.

That description became the focus of the investigation.

Every tip, every sighting, every roadblock was built around a white van.

Police stopped white vans across the region.

They searched white vans.

They cleared white vans.

The white van was the lead.

It was the wrong lead.

The actual vehicle was a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice.

The witness's description was later abandoned.

The mistake cost time.

It allowed the snipers to keep shooting.

The specific details of that witness's description are not in the source.

What is in the source is the cost.

The attacks continued.

The fear continued.

The wrong turn was a fact.