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Book details
  • Genre:TRUE CRIME
  • SubGenre:Murder / Serial Killers
  • Language:English
  • Pages:560
  • eBook ISBN:9781098303839
  • Paperback ISBN:9781098303822

The Sniper

Hunting A Serial Killer - A True Story

by Chris Andersen

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Overview
The gripping true story of an undercover police tactical unit, utilizing advanced surveillance techniques, who are tasked with dismantling violent commercial business robbery crews, who suddenly find themselves deeply immersed in a high risk surveillance of a group of serial killers who use a sniper hidden in a specially modified vehicle to shoot and kill armored truck couriers. After killing the courier, they would then steal the contents of the armored truck. In an around the clock surveillance, which lasted over three months with many twists and turns, this elite team of undercover officers and their federal partners (ATF/FBI) were able to either arrest or kill these criminals when they were just moments away from trying to kill another innocent armored truck courier.
Description

The gripping true story of a crew of serial killers whose specialty was robbing armored trucks and how they were ultimately undone. Unique to this particular robbery crew was its paramilitary-type operational sophistication and their use of a sniper hidden within a specially modified vehicle. After months of preparation, the sniper would shoot the targeted armored truck guard/courier from a distance once they had left the safety of their bulletproof armored vehicle to make a money delivery. Once the courier was killed, then other members of the crew would move in to empty the armored truck of its contents or grab the courier's money bags. In an around-the-clock, high-risk surveillance operation—which lasted over three months, with many twists and turns, utilizing covertly mounted vehicle tracking devices, hidden cameras, cell phone analysis, shadowy informants, and a wiretap—a small, elite undercover police tactical unit along with its attached federal agents and prosecutors all worked together to stage a decoy operation that stopped these criminals moments before they were planning to kill yet another courier with their sniper. This is also the story of the same undercover police tactical unit assigned to develop a new methodology to dismantle violent commercial business robbery crews (High Risk Surveillance). Intermixed with all of its surveillance operations, police shootouts, and resulting political intrigue, this same mysterious sniper-initiated robbery crew with ties to the black supremacy movement had been working in the shadows for close to four years. Starting in 2014, the proliferation of these crews was responsible in making Houston the robbery capital of the United States. These armed suspects were almost exclusively black males with street gang affiliation, who were also sometimes responsible for the murders of innocent citizens—many of them black—during the course of these same robberies. At the time this new anti-robbery initiative was being implemented, the United States was experiencing a wave of civil discontent regarding the unwarranted shootings (either true or perceived) of black men by law enforcement (the Black Lives Matter era). The robbery initiative, by using advanced technical surveillance techniques, was an unqualified success. By the end of 2016, the commercial business robbery rate crashed by 80% while the murder rate fell by 58% on the north side of Houston, where this tactical unit was assigned. It was unquantified how many innocent citizens were also saved as a result of their operations! But, because of the surveillance tactics being used, this same small police tactical unit often came into direct confrontations with these violent street gangs while in the actual commission of takedown robberies. As a result, more than a few of these armed suspects were shot and killed. 

About the author
A 39 year Veteran of the Houston Police Department, Chris Andersen has had many assignments in his career including working as a Homicide investigator as well as a sergeant supervising a SWAT Assault Team. He also has extensive undercover experience obtained while working in the departments Pro Active Internal Affairs Unit, investigating police corruption cases, as well as Tactical Units where he was tasked with dismantling the commercial business robbery crews which plague the Houston area. He is also a recognized expert in "High Risk Surveillance" tactics and teaches his techniques and strategy to other members of the department as well as other law enforcement agencies. He is a highly decorated police sergeant receiving many awards, including the Medal of Valor, and one of only two members of the Houston Police Department to ever receive the FBI Directors Award for Excellence.