The idea the sniper as a hero - killing from cover, in a situation where the victim has no chance of defending themselves - seems as bizarre as the idea of the suicide bomber as hero. I mean I can sort of understand how people might get into that way of thinking, in both cases, but it also seems pretty strange.

But that's thread drift. I'd suspect that if this was a hot suspect, the media over there would be all over it; the police must pick up an enormous number of false leads in something like this. (And of course sometimes this can end in tragedies, such as the Birmingham Six over here, especially when the pressure is on to close the case).

Here's a link to the BBC round-up of the whole sniper story, which maybe has a little more distance, which can be helpful sometimes.