Man Tied to Sniper Case Cooperates

The man who co-owned the blue Chevrolet Caprice believed to have been used in the Washington-area sniper attacks agreed Sunday to be moved to federal custody in Maryland and is cooperating fully with authorities, his attorney said.

Officials said Nathanel O. Osbourne, who was arrested Saturday, is not suspected of carrying out any of the attacks. His lawyer, Kenneth R. Sasse, said his client has been interviewed extensively but doubts he has much information.

“I don’t think he has any knowledge or involvement in the shootings,” Sasse said after Osbourne’s detention hearing. He added that he expects U.S. marshals to take Osbourne to Maryland this week.

Osbourne, 26, spoke briefly and quietly as U.S. Magistrate Wallace Capel questioned him about child support payments and other financial matters.

The affidavit for Osbourne’s arrest was sealed. He was arrested May 30 in a domestic violence case but has no known warrants outstanding.

Authorities sought the Jamaican citizen, described as a friend of sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, as a material witness in the attacks that left 10 people dead and three critically wounded over three weeks in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Maryland prosecutors filed the first murder charges against Muhammad, 41, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17. Prosecutors in Virginia said Saturday that they would also file murder charges.

Osbourne, whose last known address was in Camden, N.J., was believed to have helped Muhammad buy the 1990 Caprice in which Muhammad and Malvo were arrested Thursday at a rest stop near Myersville, Md.

The car was purchased for $250 from Sure Shot Auto Sales Inc. in Trenton, N.J., on Sept. 10, and Muhammad and Osbourne registered it the next day. Osbourne and Muhammad had listed the same New Jersey address.

Authorities say a hole had been cut in the trunk from which someone could have fired a weapon.

Osbourne entered the United States in 1996 and had been living in New Jersey, though officials said Sunday that they were unsure of his visa status.

Why Osbourne was in Michigan, how long he had been here and how authorities tracked him to the Flint residence where he was arrested also was unclear.

The Rev. Charlie Byrd, who said he owns the home where Osbourne was arrested, said Osbourne was visiting a woman who lives there and was considering marrying her. He said the couple came to him briefly Wednesday for counseling.