CLUELESS! Moscow Police now RETRACTS claim Idaho victims were 'targeted'
This article is based on sources and MEAWW cannot verify this information independently.
MOSCOW, IDAHO: Police officers looking into the killings of four University of Idaho students reportedly took back their assertion that one or more of the victims were "targeted," admitting late night on November 30 that they were unsure of the situation. "Detectives do not currently know if the residence or any occupants were specifically targeted but continue to investigate," the Moscow Police Department said in a news release.
According to Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson, "Investigators believe that this attack was intended for a specific person," he reportedly said. The police stated that Thompson's comment was the outcome of a "miscommunication" and that they had now addressed the facts with him, as per Fox News.
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For the past two weeks, a number of additional law enforcement authorities claimed that either the property, a particular victim, or all of the victims were targets but they did not reveal any evidence to suggest the same. The police stated in news releases in the early stages of the investigation that investigators thought this was an isolated, targeted act, and there was no immediate threat to the community at large. On November 23, Moscow Police Captain Roger Lanier stated that some people thought the attack was targeted, but he was unable to elaborate for the sake of the investigation's objectivity.
"We've told the public very clearly from the beginning that we believe it was a targeted attack," Lanier reportedly said at a news conference then, adding, "To be honest, you're going to have to trust us on that at this point, because we're not going to release why we think that."
The incident was still thought to be targeted, according to investigators. Idaho State Police's director of communications Aaron Snell told Fox News Digital on November 26, "There were survivors of this. And then as well, based on the evidence internally at the scene, that has led detectives to believe and continue to believe that this was a targeted event.
Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were killed on November 13. Police believe that the attack was carried out using a "fixed-blade knife," although they have not named a suspect or found a murder weapon yet.
The murders are being looked into by more than 100 law enforcement personnel from the Moscow Police Department, Idaho State Police and FBI. Public inquiries about "any odd or out-of-the-ordinary events that took place" around November 13 have been made by officials. "Your information, whether you believe it is significant or not, might be a piece of the puzzle to help investigators solve these murders," the police said recently.