Sniper Investigators Canvass Camden

Plainclothes investigators canvassed a rundown rowhouse neighborhood in south Camden on Friday, asking residents about two men arrested in the wave of deadly sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area.

The officers also asked residents if they had seen Nathanel O. Osbourne, who co-owned the car in which two suspects in the case were found early Thursday at a Maryland rest stop.

FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi said Osbourne was believed to be in Trenton or Camden. Osbourne is being sought as a witness in the investigation and has not been named as a suspect, Vizi said.

Lamisha Johnson, 16, said investigators showed her a picture of Osbourne, but she did not recognize him.

The officers refused to identify themselves to a reporter, although one man said he represented "several agencies."

Officials revealed Friday that the car John A. Muhammad had been driving had been registered to the address of a building in which the All Nations Lounge operates. The car was registered to Muhammad and Osbourne.

In its working-class neighborhood of rundown rowhouses and boarded-up windows, the All Nations Lounge and the street outside had a reputation.

Plagued by drug activity, fighting and street-corner homicides, the bar at 1400 Sheridan Street was closed two years ago after residents rallied against it. When it re-opened, owner Michael Clarke stopped selling alcohol and it became known mostly for having the best veggie burgers and sauteed crabs in town.

But notoriety returned Thursday after authorities captured two suspects in the sniper shootings, asleep at a highway rest stop in a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice with New Jersey plates.

The revelation shook the neighborhood and Clarke said that he only knew Muhammad in passing, as a customer.

"It doesn't bother me," Clarke said late Thursday. "There's no need for me to be curious. I had nothing to do with this."

He said Osbourne, who was being sought for questioning but not as a suspect, did odd jobs for him in the restaurant and sometimes stayed in the upstairs apartment.

Osbourne, 26, was believed to be in Trenton or Camden, said FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi, who issued a public appeal for help in locating him. She gave special mention to the state's immigrant community, saying anyone who volunteered information would not be questioned about their immigration status.

"We believe that he would be an excellent witness," she said.

It wasn't clear whether Muhammad ever lived above the restaurant.

Clarke, 46, said Muhammad came to the restaurant "three or four times" in August with a teenager, but that he did not live upstairs. Clarke told FBI agents who questioned him that Muhammad "was just a person passing by in the restaurant."

A neighborhood woman who said she once met Muhammad inside the restaurant said she remembers once hearing Clarke tell him not to use the upstairs shower because it had a leak; Clarke denied saying that, saying Muhammad never stayed there.

But he has been here since the sniper shootings began, according to one man.

Kurtis Adams, 46, said he saw Muhammad about three days ago when Muhammad parked the Caprice in what everyone knew was Adams' parking spot on Mechanic Street.

"I told him to move from my spot, and the guy said 'OK,' and drove away," Adams said. Adams said he immediately recognized Muhammad when he saw police pictures of him Thursday.

Tracey Urey, 38, said she flirted with Muhammad and got him to buy her drinks one night in the lounge, before it closed. "He was a nice, quiet guy. He didn't seem like that kind of guy," she said after hearing of his arrest.

But she acknowledged it had been at least a year since she had seen him.

It was unclear how long Muhammad had spent in New Jersey.

After buying the car Sept. 10 for $250 at a Trenton car dealer named Sure Shot Sales, he got the car's title and registration on the one-year anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., said Edmond Bonnette, the agent in charge of the Camden DMV office.

Bonnette said he remembers the day well because there was a bomb threat at the office. It was called into Camden police at 8:45 a.m. Muhammad registered the car at 8:52 a.m., eight minutes before police evacuated the building due to the threat.

Muhammad was in the building when it was evacuated for the bomb threat, which was called into police from a pay telephone a few blocks away, according to Edmond Bonnette, the agent in charge of the DMV office.

Muhammad does not have a New Jersey driver's license, but it is legal in New Jersey to own a car without being a licensed driver.

Osbourne has a valid New Jersey driver's license, Rasmussen said.

The vehicle, which had 146,975 miles on it at the time of purchase, is a former municipal vehicle for the township of Bordentown.

Police Capt. Joseph Richardson said authorities were trying to determine the last time Muhammad was known to have been in Camden. Muhammad did not have a criminal record in Camden, he said.

Many people who live near the All Nations Lounge say they never laid eyes on Muhammad until they saw his photograph on TV.

"We never had nothing to do with this man," said neighbor Marlene Bailey, 60, surveying a phalanx of TV news trucks, reporters and camera people camped out at the intersection Thursday afternoon. "The bar was a nuisance in the first place, that's why we had it closed down. He might've just used the bar as an address."

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