Did the Zodiac Killer use a silencer on his 9 millimeter pistol at Blue Rock Springs? There is some question as to whether this is the case. The controversy arises from two witnesses whose statements do not reconcile with each other. These are the statements of Mike Mageau, who was the survivor, and George Bryant Jr., who was the son of the caretaker of the park.

     As soon as he was able, Mageau told the police that the gunshots sounded like muffled bursts, as though there had been a silencer on the weapon. He stated that the assailant walked up, behind the splatter rays of a flashlight, and simply started shooting. Mageau was hit in the neck first and then started flailing about as more shots were fired into he and Ferrin. According to Mageau, the shooter then walked casually back to his car. At this moment, either from pain or anger, Mageau lets out a yell. The shooter returns and fires 4 more shots into them.

     On the other hand, George Bryant reports hearing what he thought were gunshots about this same time (near midnight). He was in his room in the old caretaker’s house about 800 feet away up the slope of the park. If The Zodiac’s pistol had a silencer on it, Bryant could not possibly have heard the shots. Therefore who is right?

     Bryant reports hearing firecrackers. But he said the reports he took to be gunshots were much louder. Nevertheless, this does not mean he heard gunshots, for he hears something quite different than what Mageau declared to the police. For starters, he heard a single shot. Then “a short time later” he heard what he thought was another gunshot. Then “after another short pause he heard rapid fire of what appeared to be gunshots.” He then heard a car take off at “super speed” and burn rubber and squeal as it took off.

     There are, of course, problems with this chain of events. There is no indication in the police report that there were skid or squeal marks left by a car and, indeed, Zodiac would later say he made no squealing sounds when leaving the park. He said he drove off at normal speed. We must remember that Zodiac was called “The Boastful Slayer” for a reason. He wanted the police and everybody to think him quite clever. He made sure to straighten out the facts to the public that he had been calm and cool. Maybe the Zodiac lied. If so, that really doesn’t change the facts. Bryant didn’t report the same sequence of gunfire that Mageau reported. . .and this is significant.

     Bryant hears a single report. Then there is a pause. Then after a similar short pause, he hears rapid fire. But Mageau said the killer just opened fire on them. Then he walked back to his car casually. Mageau let out of yelp, in pain or anger. The shooter came back casually and pumped 4 more rounds into them, 2 in each. If Bryant actually heard this, he should have heard the following sequence: a loud gunshot, barely, if any, pause, then 4 more shots. Then a pause— at least 15 seconds if not more. Then 4 more shots.

     Mageau’s recollection could be completely wrong, of course. He was being shot to pieces, and that doesn’t make one’s concentration the very best. Perhaps The Zodiac merely began firing and then went back to his car. Perhaps there was no significant pause, no yelp of anger or pain and no return of The Zodiac to pump more lead into them. However, this is his earliest story, and he stuck to it. If Mageau is accurate, then Bryant heard something else.

     Just minutes before the shooting, kids had pulled into the parking lot and fired off firecrackers. Maybe this is what Bryant heard. When he heard about a shooting at the park the next day, he naturally would have associated it with the only sounds he heard. But did he hear the shooting or the 4th of July impromptu merrymaking by those traveling teens just minutes before? He would not have heard the actual attack on Ferrin and Mageau if Zodiac had indeed used a silencer. He would have had no sounds but the firecrackers, now at close range, to reconcile with the reports of a shooting at the park.

     If the police report is to be taken as accurate, and Bryant does seem rather detailed about the number of shots and pauses in between, then we have to question whether he is reporting the actual attack. The only other alternative is to question Mageau’s entire account.

     But there is tangible evidence, as contained in the Coroner’s Report on Ferrin, that supports not Bryant’s statement but Mageau’s. Daniel Horan, the coroner, lists the gunshot wounds. Ferrin had 9 entry wounds and 7 exit wounds. Of the 16 holes in her body, 8 had been caused by only 2 bullets. These had perforated her arms. One went through her right arm 3 and a half inches above the right wrist. The other went through 5 and a half inches above the right elbow. After going through, these bullets perforated her left arm. The bullet that went through her right arm above her wrist went through her left arm 2 inches above her wrist. The one that went through her left arm 5 and a half inches above the elbow went through her left arm 3 and 1/4 inches above the elbow.

     Not only does this give us trajectory, it tells us how Ferrin was holding the steering wheel at the time. Both these shots had to be fired in quick succession or else she would have moved and the second bullet would not have been able to pierce the left arm. This supports Mageau’s story that the shooter just opened up and kept shooting. Had The Zodiac shot but once (into Mageau’s neck), then paused, then shot a single bullet again, then paused, it is unlikely that Ferrin could have been caught calmly holding the steering wheel with both hands.

     Therefore it is possible that Mageau is correct again. There could have indeed been a silencer on The Zodiac’s pistol. Bryant would not have heard the attack. He would only have heard 4th of July sounds. He insisted the “gunshots” were louder than the firecrackers he had earlier heard. But this all depends on what firecrackers he had heard. Back then there was a ranch nearby (now gone). There could have been firecrackers set off elsewhere on the road by pranksters— indeed by the very kids that eventually entered the park, where they shot off more.  But, as it stands, it seems unlikely that Bryant heard the actual attack.