Cynthia Tucker discusses serial killers and race.

As the newscaster read the suspect's name, "John Allen Williams, aka John Allen Muhammad," skeins of dread knotted in my gut, pushing back the relief that had welled up with first news of the sniper's arrest. I waited for the inevitable mug shot to pop up on my television screen.

I stared, trying through sheer willpower to alter the suspect's racial identity. But it was no use. A man whose mother gave him the name "John Allen Williams" and who later changed it to "John Allen Muhammad" could only be black.

Since that Thursday in October, many African-Americans have struggled to make sense of this grim note in black history: If convicted, Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, John Lee Malvo, will become America's most notorious black serial killers, forever changing the conventional wisdom that serial murder is a white man's sickness.

It was not an accomplishment for which black America clamored.

I do not think of the sniper as a serial killer, however. Three of the key characteristics of a serial killer are motive, choice of victim and time between killings. The sniper does not fit the serial killer profile on any of those three.

On motive, the sniper killed because he blamed the United States for his failures in life. He killed to punish the U. S. and it's citizens. He even tried to extort money to quit. A true serial killer has one of 7 general motives. They range from being told to kill, getting pleasure from killing, or feeling a surge in power during the kill. The sniper's motive does not fit in with the 7 general motives.

The sniper chose random victims, and did not fixate on any special group.  A serial killer usually fixates on a certain victim profile. For example, Jack the Ripper targeted on female prostitutes. The sniper does not fit in this category either.

The sniper killed many people quickly, in different locations. This would normally be characteristic of a spree killer. A serial killer kills people over a relatively long period of time, with a cooling off period that usually is weeks or months. Years may even pass between killings. He fails in this description also.

The sniper is not a serial killer. He may be a spree killer, or more likely terrorist. I think the white man's stranglehold on the serial killer profile is safe.

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