Impact of sniper attacks still being felt a year after shooting spree.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Shannon McMahon

WASHINGTON _ On the first anniversary of the sniper shooting that terrorized Washington for three weeks, survivor Rupinder "Benny" Oberoi, who was shot at a local gas station, still has bullet fragments inside him, along with a lot of anger.

"People were getting killed for nothing," said Oberoi, who filed a civil lawsuit against those who made and sold the gun that shot him, as well as the two suspects. "Nobody deserves that."

It was Oct. 2, 2002, when the first shots were fired in a chilling wave of random attacks that terrified the nation's capital. Even today, the region remains edgy, families are struggling to reassemble their lives and two wrenching court cases are about to begin.

Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, and John Muhammad, 42, are charged in the 13 shootings, 10 of them fatal. They face capital murder charges in separate trials in Virginia. Authorities also suspect the two of shooting nine others in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Washington State.

The sniper saga also has spawned a sideshow of stories in the year since Washington-area gas stations were erecting outdoor screens to …