Sniper’s ex-wife talks about Muhammad’s abuse

Hank Silverberg, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Mildred Muhammad was among the many victims of sniper John Allen Muhammad.

The convicted sniper’s ex-wife originally came to the Washington area to take care of her mother and to get away from the verbal and psychological abuse she says John Muhammad forced on her after he returned from a tour of duty in the first Gulf War in 1991.

In an interview with WTOP, Mildred Muhammad, says when investigators first contacted her in 2003 to tell her that her ex was suspected to be the D.C. sniper, she says she was not surprised.

But she said she had no idea that she might be the target of his wrath until police told her.

“I’ve never said on my own that I was the intended target,” she says.

“The police, the FBI agents, told me that I was the target.”

She says when Muhammad was arrested, she was in the process of getting her life back after a bitter divorce and custody battle over the couple’s three children.

“I felt like my freedom was taken away from me again.”

Mildred Muhammad says she did reach out to some of the victims’ families, although she was uncertain of how they would react.

“Many, many, many people blamed me for what John did.”

On Nov. 10, 2009, John Muhammad, 48, was put to death in Virginia for the 2002 killing of Dean Harold Meyers at a Virginia gas station. Fellow sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is serving a life sentence.

Today, Mildred Muhammad works as an advocate for abused women and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Her son has graduated college with a degree in Internet technology, and her two daughters are in college in Ohio where they sing opera in several languages.

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(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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