Nicknamed for the Richmond, Virginia, neighborhood that he terrorized during the early 1960s, the "Sidney sniper" killed five persons and wounded seven others in a series of hit-and-run attacks. Never identified, the gunman "retired" as suddenly and mysteriously as he had launched his campaign, leaving police baffled in his wake. Ironically, the random shootings had a beneficial side effect on Richmond's high-crime district, with streets deserted and the local crime rate dropping sharply during the sniper's year of peak activity.