When a gunman opened fire in the nation’s capital on Friday, at least four people were injured, including a 12-year-old girl, prompting lockdowns at several schools and putting a community on edge before the suspect was found dead hours later.
The accused gunman was discovered dead inside an apartment at the scene on Friday night as investigators from the Metropolitan Police Department performed door-to-door inspections of nearby buildings.
Police suspect the man put up a “sniper-type position” in his flat with a tripod and weapon and began firing indiscriminately at persons walking below, according to Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee. The shooting was captured on video and shared on the online message board 4chan.
According to authorities, all four victims — a 54-year-old retired police officer, a woman in her 30s, a lady in her mid-60s who was grazed by a bullet, and a 12-year-old child who was shot in the arm — are expected to survive. Authorities had ordered people to stay inside their houses for many hours while they conducted a large manhunt for the shooter.
The suspect’s name was withheld pending notification of his family, but police had previously stated that they were looking for a 23-year-old Virginia man as a person of interest in the incident. According to Assistant Police Chief Stuart Emerman, the man was “connected to social media postings” that surfaced throughout the inquiry.
As parents were picking up their children from the Edmund Burke School, a private college preparatory school, gunshots erupted near the corner of Connecticut Avenue and Van Ness St. in Washington’s Van Ness district soon before 3:30 p.m.
The normally tranquil neighborhood, which is home to multiple schools and institutions as well as dozens of embassies, was rocked by echoing bursts of rapid gunfire. Burke and other surrounding schools were placed on immediate lockdown, sending terrified parents fleeing the scene.
When Bibi Stewart of Anne Arundel, Maryland, arrived at the queue to pick up her 12-year-old twins, she heard gunshots. She stated that the gunfire appeared to be coming from above and at a distance.
“At dismissal, they got it right,” she remarked.
Stewart said she witnessed glass shattering on a bridge connecting the school’s several wings, as well as the tires of cars in the pickup line being shot out.
She described her children as “simply saying they’re OK” and sheltering at the school with their friends and adults.
Some of the rounds fired from the high-powered firearm may have traveled many blocks, according to police. Bullet holes were observed in the windows of at least two local businesses.
Police in tactical gear were observed leading individuals out of apartment buildings in the neighborhood, including college students from adjacent schools. As individuals hurried along the street with their hands up over their heads, officers pointed their weapons upward at other buildings and windows.
At a press conference, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser remarked, “I had to see in the eyes of parents tonight who are afraid… thinking of what might happen to their children.” “And we’ve had much too much of it in our country.” The plague of gun violence, as well as the easy availability of guns, must come to an end. Taking their children to school should not be a source of anxiety.”
For several hours, police went door-to-door in the region, searching for the shooter. Officers suspect the gunman committed suicide as they approached the fifth-floor flat where he was holed up.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of it.” “We’ll figure out what the motivation is,” Contee said. “His goal was to kill and injure people in our town.”
According to Contee, the gunman released a video of the incident on 4chan, however, authorities are currently investigating whether it was streamed live or taped and subsequently published. The footage shows individuals fleeing for cover as rapid gunfire showers down from above and the gunman appears to be watching them through sight.
The adjacent University of the District of Columbia went into lockdown, instructing students and staff to seek safety and remain in place. The college reported there was an “active shooting event near student housing” in a tweet on Friday.
Eduardo Bugay, a college student, claimed he heard the rounds while in his first-floor apartment in the AVA building — the building where the gunman was finally found.
“At first, I was perplexed,” he admitted, not understanding what he was hearing. Then he was afraid, he said.
According to Bugay, the institution sent out emails telling students to stay put. Police arrived at his home about 30 to 40 minutes after he first heard gunfire to evacuate him and others from the building.
A large number of law enforcement officers and emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene. The FBI sent an armored vehicle to the area, and the US Secret Service stated its officers were assisting authorities in the search. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are also helping with the investigation.
Separately, at about 6:30 p.m. on Friday, emergency medical personnel were dispatched to the United States Supreme Court after a man attempted to set himself on fire outside the building. The individual was flown to a local hospital by a police helicopter, and his condition was not immediately known.
