Five Years Ago

No amount of time can erase the horror of the sniper shootings.

ANYONE WHO was in the Washington region five years ago this month remembers the fear that transformed the rituals of everyday life. Driving to work, waiting for a bus, mowing the lawn, filling the gas tank and other once-ordinary activities were fraught with terror. Two drifters on the prowl in an old Chevy randomly picked out 13 people and shot them. Ten died. Today the infamous Washington area snipers are behind bars, but the horror they inflicted can't be forgotten or, even now, fully understood.

That has become even more obvious in recent days as glimpses of the gunmen emerge in news accounts marking the awful anniversary. Most chilling is that of mastermind John Allen Muhammad, who, in a video posted by CNN on its Web site, laughs as he pronounces himself "still fighting" on death row. The origins of the video are as murky as its purpose. He says he wants to correct inaccurate statements made about his relationship with Lee Boyd Malvo. Mr. Muhammad's smirks and grins must be contrasted with the somber words of that young accomplice. In a series of phone calls with ABC News, Mr. Malvo described the pain he said that he feels in coming to terms with the devastation he caused. Mr. Malvo even placed a phone call to the daughter of one of his victims -- an Arizona man shot months before the Washington rampage. That Cheryll Witz reached out to her father's killer and wants to believe that he is truly sorry says more about the human capacity for forgiveness than about whether Mr. Malvo is to be believed.

Who knows if Mr. Malvo is sincere in his remorse? It was affecting that after his conversation with Ms. Witz, he told ABC News, "I actually don't feel any better. I actually feel worse. I killed her father." It is hard, though, to forget Mr. Malvo's boasts about doing "reconnaissance" and taking "head shots" or his sketches presented at trial wishing his prosecutor's death. A jury decided against the death penalty for Mr. Malvo, and so he will have a lifetime in prison to come to terms with his murderous actions. The relatives of his victims will be coping with the consequences of his crimes for just as long.