Interactive time line

By ALLEN G. BREED
Associated Press Writer

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - Two men wanted for questioning in the wave of deadly sniper attacks were arrested early Thursday after they were found sleeping in their car at a Maryland rest stop, authorities said.

The arrests raised hopes of a conclusion to the intensive and often frustrating investigation of the shootings that have killed 10 people and critically wounded three others since Oct. 2 in the Washington, D.C., area.

The men were not immediately charged in the attacks, but authorities made clear the arrests were considered pivotal. The lead investigator described one of the suspects as “armed and dangerous,” and a newspaper report said the men were motivated by anti-American bias.

The break occurred hours after authorities descended on a home in Tacoma, Wash., believed to hold clues important to the investigation. They then issued a nationwide alert for the car, spotted by a motorist and an attendant at the rest stop.

Members of the sniper task force arrested the men without incident at 3:19 a.m. off I-70 in Frederick County, Md., about 50 miles northwest of the nation’s capital, said Larry Scott, an agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The men were arrested in a car that matched a description police gave at a midnight press briefing, said Maj. Greg Shipley, a spokesman for the Maryland State Police.

“I don’t know what their reaction was,” Shipley said. “It wasn’t an aggressive one.”

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is leading the investigation, had said John Allen Muhammad, 42, was being sought for questioning in the slayings and called him “armed and dangerous.” Muhammad was said to be traveling with a juvenile, identified by a law enforcement source as 17-year-old Lee Malvo.