CopyCat Killers on REELZChannel tonight looks at whether there was a connection between the movie The Matrix and the 2002 sniper attack in Washington D.C.
The shootings in the capital, which took place over three weeks in October that year, saw ten people killed and three others critically injured.
They were carried out by 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo and 42-year-old John Allen Muhammad who would drive around in a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice sedan picking off their targets.
They cut a hole in the rear of the car just above the registration plate which they could use to shoot through.
The pair had already killed seven people and injured seven others in the months leading up to the spree, meaning they killed 17 people in total.
Tonight CopyCat Killers looks at the motives for the killings, including whether 1999 science fiction thriller The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves, helped inspire Malvo.
The pair were arrested after being found sleeping in their car at a rest stop near Myersville, Maryland, on October 24, 2002.
While in prison, Malvo produced a string of bizarre writing which included references to characters in The Matrix as well as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
It was recently revealed that Virginia would appeal a federal court’s ruling throwing out four life sentences he received for his role in killings in the state’s Fairfax and Spotsylvania counties.
CopyCat Killers: The Matrix airs tonight at 10/9c on REELZChannel.