Sniper's Nest

Sniper's Nest (parts 1 and 2) are the first and second episodes of Series 18.

Synopsis
A deadly sniper is on the loose and with the death toll rising rapidly, the team must help find evidence to crack the case before one of them becomes the next target.

Trivia

 * The snipers in the episode are loosely based on serial snipers, John Allen Muhammad, and Lee Boyd Malvo, who were responsible for the 2002 D.C. Sniper Attacks. Known as the Beltway Sniper Attacks, Muhammad and his accomplice, Malvo had shot and killed ten people and injured three others at various locations throughout the US states of Maryland, Virginia, and around the US Capital of Washington D.C. between the 2nd and the 24th October 2002. Further investigations had later linked Muhammad and Malvo to another 14 shootings in Washington State, California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia committed between the 16th February and the 26th September 2002, resulting in seven killed, and another seven injured. Muhammad was convicted of capital murder in November 2003 and was sentenced to death on the 9th March 2004, he was then extradited to Maryland in August 2005 and was convicted of six count of murder on the 30th May 2006 and was sentenced to six consecutive life terms without possibility of parole. On the 10th November 2009, Muhammad was executed by lethal injection at Greensville Correctional Centre, near Jarratt, Virginia. Muhammad's accomplice, Malvo pled guilty to six counts of murder on the 10th October 2006. On the 8th November 2006, Malvo was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole in Red Onion State Prison near Pound, Virginia.
 * The 2-part episode contains certain plot points that bore some similarities to real D.C. Sniper case:
 * In the episode, the sniper's vehicle that he drove was a regular sedan that he modified, in the D.C. Sniper case, Muhammad and Malvo drove a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice that they purchased from a second-hand car dealership prior to the Sniper attacks, before modifying the vehicle with a removable rear seat that would allow both Muhammad and Malvo to fire the rifle used in the attack from the boot through a small hole, located just above the rear number plate, before making their getaway without attracting any attention.
 * In the episode, the police believed the sniper drove a white van, resulting in the police to focusing on people who drove a white van, in the earlier investigations of the D.C. Sniper case, investigators acting on initial information received, believed that snipers were driving a white van or box truck, resulting in police stopping and questioning owners of white vans or box trucks, allowing the snipers making their escape undetected.
 * In the episode, the Sniper kills DC Gabby Lawson, in the D.C. Sniper case, one of the victims, 47-year-old Linda Franklin, shot dead in the covered carpark of a Home Depot store at the Seven Corners Shopping Centre near Fairfax, Virginia on the 14th October 2002, worked for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation as a intelligence analyst.