Sniper Car Registered in NJ

Two men wanted for questioning in the wave of deadly sniper attacks were arrested early Thursday in a car that is registered in New Jersey, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. But the extent of John Allen Muhammad's New Jersey connection was not immediately clear.

The blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice, with the New Jersey license plate NDA-21Z, is registered to Muhammad at 1400 Sheridan Street in Camden, according to a DMV spokeswoman who did want to be named.

Muhammad was said to be traveling with a juvenile, identified by a law enforcement source as 17-year-old John Lee Malvo.

The two-story brick building at 1400 Sheridan Street has apartments on the top floor and a restaurant called All Nations Lounge on the ground floor.

Neighbors said they don't know Muhammad, who also goes by the name John Allen Williams, or Malvo. Nor did they recall seeing the automobile.

Willie Jeter, 46, said the South Camden neighborhood is infested with criminals. "People done got killed right here on this corner," said Jeter, a shipyard worker. "It's a big drug area."

Capt. Joseph Richardson of the Camden Police Department said authorities were trying to determine the last time Muhammad was known to be in Camden. It was not immediately known if Muhammad had a criminal record in Camden.

"The investigation is continuing," Richardson said. "We're putting information together."

The men taken into custody were not immediately charged in the sniper attacks, but authorities made clear the arrests were considered pivotal.

The arrests raised hopes of a conclusion to the intensive and often frustrating investigation of the shootings that have killed 10 people and critically wounded three others since Oct. 2 in the Washington, D.C., area.

The arrests occurred hours after authorities descended on a home in Tacoma, Wash., believed to hold clues important to the investigation. They then issued a nationwide alert for the car, spotted by a motorist and an attendant at the rest stop near Frederick, Md.

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