Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “CIA Shooter” Mir Aimal Kansi Pt. 1

Episode Date: March 13, 2023

On the morning of January 25th, 1993, Mir Aimal Kansi carried out an assault on members of the CIA without ever stepping onto the grounds. After killing two and injuring three others, Kansi left the s...cene and waited to be apprehended at a nearby park. When the FBI didn't come for him, he fled the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Due to the nature of this episode and this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, gun violence, and traumatic situations. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. If I say CIA, you probably have a reaction or two. You likely know the letters stand for Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. agency charged with national security and defense. And if you watched enough spy movies, you might picture the CIA as efficient, all-knowing, and all-powerful.
Starting point is 00:00:39 It's a comforting thought. However, in reality, the agency has made many mistakes. Just ask President Eisenhower, who didn't look favorably on intelligence agencies while in office. Thanks to the messy state of affairs around the CIA, Eisenhower said he'd leave a legacy of ashes. To protect the U.S., the agency engages in covert operations across the globe, but those might not go as planned. And five, ten, or twenty years down the line, as we'll soon find out, the consequences come back to haunt them. Today we'll trace one of those domino effects, a CIA operation that leads a gunman to get revenge, and then a shooting that kicks off a worldwide manhunt.
Starting point is 00:01:25 Problem is, as the investigators hunt down the terrorist, they don't stop to wonder. How do you strike against terror without restarting the cycle of revenge? Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Welcome back to Manhunts, a special series on serial killers, taking you through the most dangerous, mind-bending, and heart-pounding man-hunts in history. Today's episode is part one of the last of our topics in this particular series, and it's certainly one worth listening to. I'm here with my co-host, Greg Poulson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify.
Starting point is 00:02:10 In today's episode, we'll start with a lone world. terrorist by the name of Mir Amel Kanzi. On a January morning in 1993, he attacked the CIA, murdering two employees and wounding three others. Then we'll switch gears, showing the events from the perspective of one of those wounded victims. We'll follow her story and the FBI's as they use cutting-edge forensics to unmask the killer's identity. Next time, we'll follow the shooter across the world, but today we'll start just outside
Starting point is 00:02:42 Washington, D.C. with a young man watching the news. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner because you have Shopify.
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Starting point is 00:04:53 With billions of probiotics and 20 years of scientific expertise, Activia is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to start your gut health ritual. Try Activia today. Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort. which includes gas, floating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. In 1993, Kanzi was a young man at his late 20s, living in a small apartment outside Washington, D.C.
Starting point is 00:05:29 The Pakistani expat had moved to a peaceful suburb a couple years earlier, ready for a fresh start. But though he came from a well-connected family back home, he barely had any close friends in America, and he butted heads with other Pakistani expats. A reporter once asked a friend of Kanzis if he was anti-American, and the man responded, quote, Sometimes he was, but basically he was weird, end quote.
Starting point is 00:05:52 He was a loner who mostly kept quiet. That is, until he or his roommate Zahead watched news about the Middle East. Then, Kanzi would go haywire yelling at the TV. He was angry at the treatment of Muslims, the bombing of Iraqi soldiers, the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims, the persecution of Muslim Palestinians. As the news flickered on the screen, he told Zahead he'd finally had enough. He was going to do something big. His roommate brushed off the comment at the time.
Starting point is 00:06:28 Conzi was always saying weird things. But now we know Conzi wasn't kidding. He was planning an act of terror. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. As a reminder, she is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. While we might have the impression that terrorists are violent men working with well-organized militias, psychiatrist Ayad Saraj paints a different picture.
Starting point is 00:06:56 He said terrorists are, quote, usually timid people, introverted, not violent at all. Besides their shyness, they seem to have a low self-esteem, end quote. That makes sense in Kanzi's case. His alienation could have been a factor, and while terrorist motivations are complex, pioneering political psychologist Gerald Post noted that the human need to belong can drive people to violence. When taken to extremes, the desire to be part of something bigger can lead to a deeply ingrained hate for those outside the group. Host described terrorist as having a, quote, dualist psychology, we against them, the good ones against the bad ones.
Starting point is 00:07:38 Kanzi could definitely relate to that. As he later said, his primary motivation was, quote, retaliation. This was like a tribal revenge. Everyone in the other tribe is considered a legitimate target, end quote. That being said, Kanzi was also unique. He wasn't part of a massive coordinated attack, like those that took place on 9-11. Instead, terrorism expert Jessica Stern, who interviewed Kanzi, classified him as a certain type of terrorist, a lone wolf avenger.
Starting point is 00:08:08 She claimed, quote, lone wolves often come up with their own ideologies that combine personal ventures, with religious or political grievances. Kanzi had plenty of all three. As we already mentioned, he objected to the treatment of Muslims worldwide, but there were likely personal stakes as well, which takes us for a moment to Kanzi's childhood. He grew up in the city of Quetta, Pakistan.
Starting point is 00:08:36 During his youth, it was a city known for orchards and dried fruits, but by the time he was a teenager, the CIA had moved in. Now, there's a lot of history of history of the city of the city. Now, there's a lot of history we could unpack, but what you need to know for Kanzi's side of the story is this. Starting in 1979, the CIA was helping Afghanistan battle the Soviet Union, but they used Pakistani tribesmen in Quetta to do so. According to a 1995 New Yorker article about Kansi, that included his father, Abdullah John Kansi, he and Mir Amel's uncle were connected to the CIA and possibly transported weaponry to Afghan guerrilla fighters.
Starting point is 00:09:13 The job lined their pockets, but it came. with consequences. During that time, Kanzi's uncle was murdered, possibly related to CIA plans, and guns were suddenly everywhere in Quetta. 16-year-old Kanzi wasn't immune to the fallout. He started training with assault rifles at rebel fighter camps, and like many of his classmates, he brought along his trusty AK-47 to school each day. He was just one of many children who grew up in the shadow of the CIA's activities, and by 1990, In 53, he'd moved to the U.S., just 20 minutes away from the agency that had turned his home into a smuggler's paradise. And though Conzi wanted vengeance on behalf of all Muslims, he was also motivated by his personal experience.
Starting point is 00:10:00 That included the values of his tribe, the Pashtuns. The group lives by a code that has a lot to do with honor, loyalty, and an eye-for-and-in-eye sense of justice. Not violence exactly, just retribution. But in Conzi's hands, these principles translated to revenge. The 27-year-old worked on a plan. At first, he thought about hitting the White House or assassinating James Woolsey, the head of the CIA. They were the real decision-makers.
Starting point is 00:10:33 Conzi said, quote, I did not want to kill ordinary Americans, only government officials, and they are not normal people. Therefore, they are legitimate targets, end quote. But they were also different. difficult targets to hit. Kanzi had no idea how to find the head of the CIA, much less how to catch him unaware. So he considered other options like embassies.
Starting point is 00:10:57 That being said, Kanzi wasn't hoping to cause any policy changes necessarily. To him, vengeance wasn't a means to an end. Vengeance was the end. He drove his Sisu pickup truck by the embassy to scope things out. But it was practically a non-starter. There were just too many armed guards. Maybe it would work for a suicide bomber, but not him. And that's when he turned his attention back to the CIA.
Starting point is 00:11:31 Luckily for Conzi, he worked for a courier service. He didn't personally have clearance to deliver packages to CIA headquarters, but he could ask his coworkers a bunch of questions about it. He noted down the entrances, exits, and the routines of the security guards. Soon enough, he realized the building's location offered a unique opportunity. To get to the office, vehicles had to take a left turn off of Route 123 or Dolly Madison Boulevard. During the morning commute, the left turn lanes were packed with cars going to the headquarters. The drivers would be sitting ducks, and every one of them, a government official, a target.
Starting point is 00:12:14 On January 10th, Kanzi visited a gun shop called David Kondin, Inc. There, over the next 10 days, he readied his arsenal. A bulletproof vest, two handguns, ammo. and an AK-47 assault rifle. Before he checked out at the counter, he submitted forms for a background check. As a gun-toting anti-American, his past was dotted with red flags,
Starting point is 00:12:36 but he had no record of violence. Actually, being Pakistani, he had no record at all. So the request was approved within minutes. He snucked the stash back to his apartment. Finally, the time had come. January 25th was a crisp, wintery day. It was just above freezing. The kind of morning you could see your breath in the air.
Starting point is 00:13:01 Kanzi smuggled his stockpile to his truck, strapped on his bulletproof vest, and mentally prepped. He expected to get in a shootout, and he knew there was a good chance he'd be killed. But revenge was what he wanted. So when he was ready, he hit the road for Langley, Virginia. He headed down Route 123. Around 8 a.m., the left-hand turn lane came into view. Up ahead, he saw a long row of cars.
Starting point is 00:13:29 Cued up just as he'd expected. He pulled in at the end of the line. Moments later, he stepped out of the pickup, AK-47, in hand. Expression lists he casually strolled between the two columns of cars, as if he had all the time in the world. Then, he started shooting. Coming up, an FBI agent hunts his first terrorist. Transport your senses with Soltejanado's list. Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection at Sephora.
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Starting point is 00:15:16 or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonal urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar.
Starting point is 00:15:44 Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit Zepbounds.lily.com. And now back to the story. January 25th, 1993 was a cold winter morning in Virginia. For mere Amel Conzi, it was the day he would seek revenge on behalf of Muslims across the globe by launching an attack directly on the CIA. We'll get back to Conzi a little later, but now we're going to switch gears a little
Starting point is 00:16:26 by telling you about the people who bore the brunt of his vengeance, the agents themselves. When you think of a CIA agent, you probably have an idea in your mind. somebody like James Bond, perhaps, or a cold calculating bureaucrat trained in the art of spycraft. But that's a bit of a stretch. You might be surprised at how most government officials are just everyday people. So here's that same morning from a different perspective. Because for agents, Frank Darling and Judy Becker Darling, the day Consie went to the headquarters started as just another Monday,
Starting point is 00:17:01 eating cereal and reading the newspaper. Then they piled into Frank's Volkswagen Golf and went to work. Usually they wound through residential streets lined with trees to get to work. But maybe because it was a Monday and he was still waking up, Frank made a mistake. Instead of the usual shortcut through the residential streets, he took the highway, Route 123, Dolly Madison Boulevard. And when Judy and Frank neared the office, they ran straight into a block of Monday morning traffic. Frank pulled into one of the left-hand turn lanes, and then they were at a standstill.
Starting point is 00:17:39 Judy watched out the passenger side window. She sighed. Now they'd be even more late. Noticing she was getting a little crabby, Frank laughed. He said, you are a sight in the morning. Judy couldn't help but smile. Suddenly, being stuck in traffic with him wasn't so bad. They had a pretty good life.
Starting point is 00:18:02 They had an apartment, steady jobs. at each other. Then, all of a sudden, Judy heard the rear windshield shatter. Before we go any further, I have to warn you that what comes next describes a public shooting and may be disturbing to some listeners. Please keep this in mind as we continue. After Judy heard the window break, she assumed someone had run into the back of the Volkswagen, but when she turned, she didn't see any accident. Instead, Frank uttered, oh my God, somebody has a gun. I've been shot. He'd been struck in the back.
Starting point is 00:18:42 Out of the corner of her eye, Judy saw the barrel of a gun float past the window. Frank yelled at her to get down, and she quickly ducked under the dashboard. Shots exploded outside, like balloons popping above her head. Out on the road, the gunmen methodically walked between the cars, twisting from side to side. One witness recalled, quote, The guy just seemed to have a cold look on his face. Anything that moved, he shot. End quote.
Starting point is 00:19:13 Eventually turned toward a blue sob. Inside was 66-year-old Lansing Bennett. With 13 years of service under his belt providing medical treatment across the globe, he worked as a health analyst on high-profile missions. But Kanzi didn't know Lansing was a physician. All he cared about was that the man worked for the CIA. He pointed the rifle through the driver's side window at the man's chest
Starting point is 00:19:37 and pulled the trigger. Lansing was killed. And Kanzi moved along to another car. He pointed the rifle at a woman this time, and the two made eye contact. She froze in shock. But instead of pulling the trigger, the shooter lowered his weapon and moved on. That's when he noticed Frank, still breathing near the back of the line. He was riding in his seat, looking for a way out.
Starting point is 00:20:06 The gunman walked back to the Volkswagen to finish the job. At this point, Judy was. hunched over in her seat, praying the shooter would run out of bullets. She yearned to know what was going on, so she lifted her head above the dash just to get a peek. It was bad timing. She found herself face to face with the barrel of the gun. Next to her, Frank begged her to duck back down and she hit the deck.
Starting point is 00:20:35 More gunshots rang out. Ruth seemed to freeze in place for a moment. Judy looked down at her clothes. A red fluid splattered on the skirt sheet ironed that morning. At first, she didn't realize what it was. But when she looked at Frank, she saw part of his head was totally gone. As she said later, quote, In a matter of seconds, my life went from heaven to the depths of hell.
Starting point is 00:21:14 Covered in blood and brain matter, Judy screamed and leapt out of the car, running right past the shooter who watched with an icy stare, She grabbed the hand of another woman who was standing in the middle of the street completely in shock. Judy took charge running toward the CIA guard stations, yelling for help. But by that point, the terrorist was done. In just 30 seconds, he'd fired 70 rounds. Five people were shot. Frank Darling and Dr. Lansing Bennett were dead.
Starting point is 00:21:47 The gunman got back into his truck and fled the scene. Minutes later, Route 123 was thrown into chaos. Car alarms blared. Witnesses thought the shooter took off into the trees, so CIA tactical forces combed the compound. A helicopter soared overhead, searching for the suspect from the air. But the killer had gotten away,
Starting point is 00:22:08 and nobody knew who he was or where he went. The CIA no doubt wanted to capture the terrorists themselves, but the agency only had jurisdiction over international cases. Because Lansing and Frank's murders were a domestic issue, the CIA had to rely on their rivals, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Around 8 a.m. that morning, 45-year-old federal agent Bradley Garrett strolled into the FBI offices to find them nearly empty. He soon realized why. His supervisor pulled him aside and said, There's been a shooting at the CIA. I need you to go. A Midwesterner with a Ph.D. in criminology, Garrett normally worked best.
Starting point is 00:22:51 bank robberies, kidnappings, and narcotics cases. This assignment would be different, the most difficult case of his life. There's a good reason for that. Even though we may know who the gunman was, at this point the FBI had no idea. If they wanted to stop another attack, they had to use every technique at their disposal to capture the identity of the shooter before it was too late. And Garrett's first step? Visiting the scene of the crime.
Starting point is 00:23:23 When he arrived outside the headquarters, the street was eerily quiet. The intersection was littered with abandoned vehicles. Frank and Lansing's bodies were still sitting in the driver's seats, likely still buckled in. Agents started by interviewing the witnesses. They didn't see much, just a dark-haired man with an aisle of complexion. While Garrett took down first-hand accounts, crime scene detective Jeff Miller peered into the shattered window of Frank's Volkswagen.
Starting point is 00:23:50 He thought about the man lying silently in the driver's seat. alive just a few hours before. In an interview about the case, Jeff said, here's this person that's silent forever, and somebody has to speak up for them. The way I look at it is, I'm their voice. He and other forensic technicians carefully recovered 10 empty casings from the ground.
Starting point is 00:24:14 To the untrained eye, the shells meant nothing, but for Jeff, they told a story. As Jeff said, forensic evidence is never clouded by someone's perception. It never lies to you. It's always telling the truth. All I have to do is find it. He took the cartridges back to the police department and examined them.
Starting point is 00:24:36 Based on their make, he could tell they were fired from an AK-47. Then, looking closer, Jeff discovered a smudge on one of the shells. Traces of a fingerprint. He was headed in the right direction. Still, it wasn't clear he had a usable sample. The bullet was small, and the imprint went nearly 300 degrees all the way around. Getting a clean copy wouldn't be easy. He put the cartridge under a special camera and rotated the bullet carefully,
Starting point is 00:25:06 one-sixteenth of an inch at a time, taking pictures all the way around the casing. The work paid off. After stitching the photos together, Jeff gleaned one solid fingerprint, their first concrete lead, and the authority's first step to bring bringing Frank's killer to justice. But while police were getting closer to unmasking the suspect, Judy was still dealing with the trauma of her husband's death. Soon after the shooting, she was rushed to Fairfax Hospital.
Starting point is 00:25:35 She was in shock, the images of her husband's murder, and his last words urging her to get down, flashing through her mind. When she asked about the man that saved her life, the paramedics avoided her questions. They told her they medevacked him to a different hospital, but not to worry he was just shot in the arm. Of course, Judy knew better. Later, she lamented that no one had been up front with her. No one told her he was dead. She was taken to a friend's house nearby for the night, still wearing her bloodstained clothes. Things were chaotic, and life felt
Starting point is 00:26:12 empty without Frank. That morning, they were eating Cheerios, packing lunches. Now she was shaking, tears rolling down her face. She was at a loss. And then the doorbell rang. Out front were two CIA employees. She hoped they had a plan for justice, some answer as to why Frank had been targeted. At the very least, she wanted an acknowledgement
Starting point is 00:26:37 that everything was going to be okay. Instead, they took out a piece of cardboard and showed her a pie chart, explaining the five stages of grief. Judy watched with a jaw on the floor as they droned on. She'd worked for the CIA for 13 years. They always told her they took care of their people. But she'd been asking for answers all day.
Starting point is 00:26:59 And apparently, the grief chart was all she was going to get. Thinking back, she told a Chicago Tribune reporter, You taught so many things at the CIA, that they're so powerful, that we have such sophisticated equipment, we can detect terrorism anywhere in the world. I think they forgot the United States of America. Walking down the road that day, gun in hand, Kanzi may have felt like he was dispensing justice, but all he did was continue the cycle of violence. Now the pain was Judy's to deal with,
Starting point is 00:27:31 and she realized the CIA wasn't going to take her seriously. If she was going to get justice for Frank, she was going to have to get it herself. Coming up, we'll follow Kanzi across the border. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.
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Starting point is 00:28:32 Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. And now back to our story. On the morning of January 25, 1993, there was a shooting spree at the CIA headquarters. Two were killed and three were injured.
Starting point is 00:29:03 We just heard about it from the perspective of those victims like Judy Becker Darling, who went home that night alone without her husband. But now we're going to return to the shooter himself, Mir Amel Conzi. And then hear how the FBI deduced he was behind the murder. Let's come back to the moments immediately after the shooting. With the AK-47 still hot in his hands, 28-year-old Kansi lowered his weapon. When asked why he stopped firing,
Starting point is 00:29:34 he later said, quote, Because there wasn't anybody left to shoot, end quote. He watched Judy Becker-Darling run from her Volkswagen golf. She grabbed another woman's hand and took off toward the CIA building. Conzi had a clear line of sight. He could have gunned them down. But because Judy and the other employee were women, Consey claimed it was against his religion to kill them.
Starting point is 00:29:56 Instead, Kanzi got back into his Asuzu pickup truck and peeled off. The next thing he did was stop at a park and wait. Law enforcement carried out their initial search with Kanzi sitting just five minutes away. He was confident that the cops would come for him. He'd be arrested or shot. There was no point in running. So he waited for an hour. Then longer.
Starting point is 00:30:24 But no one came. Eventually, Consey grabbed his things and went home. He hung up his clothes and tucked his gun underneath the couch. He hadn't expected to make it this far. Now he was left alone with his thoughts and the consequences. The psychological effects of revenge are complex. Aggression researcher David Chester said, quote, Revenge can feel really good in the moment,
Starting point is 00:30:51 but when we follow up with people five minutes, 10 minutes, and 45 minutes later, They actually report feeling worse than they did before they sought revenge. The reason is a little surprising. By retaliating, subjects feel they've made the original injustice more real. They force themselves to dwell on their grievances rather than finding other ways to cope. Mere Amel Kanzi hadn't planned on making it out of the CIA headquarters. Now he had a whole new set of decisions to make.
Starting point is 00:31:20 He had no idea what to do or where to go. So, he settled on heading home. home. That afternoon, he got in touch with the grocery store owner, Mohamed Yusuf, who connected him to someone who ran a small travel agency. Kanzi was a regular at the store, but there was no way Muhammad knew what the young man had done. Through Muhammad, Kanzi bought a one-way ticket for $740 cash, leaving the very next day. On January 26, Mohamed offered to drive him to the airport. When the traveler hopped in his car, Mohamed noticed he only wore slacks, a t-shirt, and a sweater. even though it was January.
Starting point is 00:31:58 Kanzi didn't even have a suitcase. Muhammad asked if he was really going to Pakistan without bringing any gifts or luggage. Kanzi was cool and dismissive. He assured the man he was fine. All he needed was to get there safe and sound. And he did. He made it to Dulles Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, without a hitch.
Starting point is 00:32:19 Many hours later, Kanzi stepped into the desert air of Quetta Pakistan. The CIA shooter was now on the... the other side of the world, 7,000 miles away. If the FBI wanted even a small chance at finding their murderer, they were going to have to pick up the pace. First, they'd need to know what he looked like, and there was at least one CIA employee who came face-to-face with Concey. They'd locked eyes during the shootout,
Starting point is 00:32:46 and in that moment, his face was etched into her mind. Now, her memory was the key to tracking him down. She was driven to the Fairfax County Police Headquarters and paired up with a forensic sketch artist. Together, they got to work. A forensic artist faces a huge challenge because our brains are meant to recall faces only as a whole, so it's tough for witnesses to pull that information apart.
Starting point is 00:33:12 Oddly enough, our short-term memory tends to be really good for the hair and outer part of the head, but not so much for things like the nose or the mouth. Luckily, illustrators don't have to get it perfect. They just have to get right enough to make a sense. suspect's friend think, hey, I think I might know that person. In all likelihood, the artist first asked the witness to describe the gunman's no shape, hairline, skin color, whatever made an impression. Then they moved on to step two. Comparison.
Starting point is 00:33:43 The forensic tech likely took out a database with hundreds of faces. The witness skimmed through that library and pointed to any feature that looked familiar, a cheek here, an eyebrow there. Since humans are bad at translating images to words, the visual aid is crucial. The artist revealed what they had so far. After some feedback and adjustments, the FBI had their sketch. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough. The Bureau could broadcast the drawing on the news, but Agent Bradley Garrett had a better idea in order to hone the search. Junumash shooters often bought their weapons just a short while before committing their crimes. So he checked recent AK-47 purchases in the area. Garrett was known to be a doer, a good, diligent agent who took calls and worked the field
Starting point is 00:34:31 even in the middle of the night, and this doggedness came in handy here because the results were daunting. In the year before the shooting, enthusiasts purchased over 1,000 AK-47s in Virginia alone, and authorities had to investigate every one of them. ATF agents scoured shooting ranges and gun shops, hoping someone might recognize the drawing. After nearly a week of canvassing, they had a database, and it was time for the big reveal. They cross-referenced the suspect's physical characteristics
Starting point is 00:35:06 with those who recently bought an AK-47 and those with a local address. Only one name came up, 28-year-old Mir Amel Kanzi. The FBI had their lead. They paid Kanzi's apartment a visit, but without a warrant, they couldn't just barge in. Agents had to wait for his roommate Zahed Mir. It was an agonizing delay. Due to a miscommunication, another week went by while they staked out the building.
Starting point is 00:35:37 All the while, the shooter was slipping from their fingertips. Finally, on February 8th, they caught the apartment at the right time. Zahed old. opened the door. Turned out, three days after the shooting, Zahad noticed Kanzi was gone and filed a missing person's report. The cops looked at each other. This was getting more promising by the moment. But the apartment itself was barren. It seemed like Zahed and his roommate were both getting ready to move. There was little there but furniture. Still, the agents searched the place and found a suitcase hidden in Kanzi's room. Inside were two automatic pistols.
Starting point is 00:36:16 ammunition for an AK-47 and a bulletproof vest. Zahed was shocked. He had no idea he was sleeping just feet away from an armory. But that wasn't all. Wrapped in plastic, stuffed under the couch, they found yet another gun, an AK-47. They also found a long, tan field jacket hanging in a closet. From there, Zahed led the officers to Kanzi's truck.
Starting point is 00:36:45 Witnesses at the crime scene remembered seeing a brown station wagon, but this was close from a certain angle. They peeked into the window and gasped. Inside was a map of the CIA headquarters and a newspaper clipping about the director James Woolsey. Clearly, Kanzi didn't bother covering his tracks. He was looking guiltier by the second, but they still didn't have concrete proof. So far, everything they found was circumstantial. What they needed was evidence that placed Kanzi at the scene of the crime on January 25th, something irrefutable.
Starting point is 00:37:23 And that's when investigator Jeff Miller had an idea. At the Route 123 intersection, Jeff looked at the shattered glass blanketing the asphalt like fallen snow. He knew it wasn't regular glass. It was auto glass. And that meant it was distinct in an important way. Different countries used different types. As we mentioned earlier in the episode, Frank Darling and Judy Becker Darling drove a German Volkswagen golf to work that day. The other homicide victim, Lansing Bennett, sat in a blue sob 900S, made in Sweden.
Starting point is 00:37:59 Finally, there were other vehicles in the left-hand turn lane that day, many from America. Jeff looked at the various cars, imagining the gunmen standing just feet away, firing straight through the windows. The glass would have shattered into a million little pieces. floating out from the vehicle and showering the shooter. Because he stood so close to the action, the particles likely embedded themselves deep into the gunman's clothing. The shards were so tiny that the suspect likely didn't notice,
Starting point is 00:38:31 but if authorities discovered these exact three types of glass on Kanzi's coat, it would mean he was almost certainly outside the CIA headquarters on January 25th. It would mean they found their shod. shooter. Jeff could hardly wait to test out his theory. He had technicians combed Kansi's field jacket with a brush. Tiny shards of glass, some invisible to the naked eye, fell from the material. They carefully placed the fragments onto a slide, then put them under a microscope. Sure enough, they found three types of glass lodged in the coat, American, Swedish, and German. Between the
Starting point is 00:39:11 AK-47, the fingerprint, and the glass on the jacket, the FBI now had enough evidence to charge Mir Amel Consey with capital murder and malicious wounding. The FBI put out a $100,000 reward for his arrest. Agents canvassed the Pakistani American community, asking if anyone had seen the 28-year-old. The search led them to Muhammad Youssef, the grocery store owner. That's when Bradley Garrett learned the news. Conzi had bought a one-way ticket
Starting point is 00:39:42 and had likely already disappeared among the small villages and mountain of his youth. Two weeks after the shooting spree, Garrett realized the shooter was halfway across the world in the nation of Pakistan. The international manhunt had begun. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back next time with part two of the manhunt
Starting point is 00:40:15 for the CIA shooter, Mir Amel Kansi. We'll return to Judy Becker Darling's own desire for revenge and follow the FBI as they go undercover in Pakistan. You can find all episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Stay safe out there. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast, executive produced by Max Cutler.
Starting point is 00:40:43 Our head of programming is Julian Bauer. Our supervising sound designer is Russell Nash, with Nick Johnson as a head of production and quality control by Spencer Howard. Stacey Nemek is our supervising editor and Derek Jennings is our writing lead. This episode of serial killers was written by Ben Carrow, edited by Terrell Wells, fact-checked by Kevin Johnson, research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood, produced by Bruce Katovich, and sound design by Michael Motion. Our hosts are Vanessa Richardson and me, Greg Paulson.
Starting point is 00:41:16 A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Do you want to hear something spooky? Some Monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal.
Starting point is 00:41:55 One of the boys started to exhibit demonic. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snakelight lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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