During the early morning hours of Friday, a gunman opened fire from an apartment block near an upscale prep school in the nation’s capital, injuring four people before committing suicide as police closed in on him.
On a video Raymond Spencer, 23, of Fairfax, Virginia, had published on social media with the caption “School shooting!” written incorrectly, the video appeared to show bullets fired from a window on the second floor of a school, according to Spencer.
Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee stated that the video “appears to be very much authentic,” although it was unclear whether the footage had been streamed live or had been uploaded after it had been recorded.
Earlier that day, Spencer had been identified as a “person of interest” in the investigation in a police bulletin that featured photographs of him.
After a gunman opened fire in an elite suburb of northwest Washington, DC, just as classes were about to close for the day, the wealthy Van Ness area was paralyzed by a large manhunt for the shooter.
While students and parents texted back and forth in dread, police sealed off the school and surrounding households and searched door to door for the as-yet-unidentified offender.
According to a statement from Deputy Chief of Officers John Contee, eyewitness reports assisted police in locating the gunman on the fifth floor of a “particular apartment complex” and ultimately “breached the scene where the suspect took his own life.”
Officers discovered a “sniper-type setup” with a tripod weapons mount, more than half a dozen firearms, and massive quantities of ammunition in the residence, according to the police chief.
According to Contee, the gunman’s declared purpose was to cause intentional harm and death to members of our community. He also stated that the shooter acted alone in his actions.
According to him, the four victims who were shot at random were “going about their business” on the streets of the District of Columbia when the shooting occurred.
According to Assistant Police Chief Stuart Emerman, the injured included a 54-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman who were both gravely wounded, as well as a 12-year-old boy who was shot in the arm. All of the victims were transported to nearby hospitals.
According to Emerman, a minor graze wound on the leg of an older woman in her 60s was treated on the spot by paramedics.
According to Reuters and local media outlets, witnesses described hearing several bursts of rapid gunfire from multiple directions. According to Contee, at least 20 bullets were fired during the incident.
Foreign embassies, the School of Law at Howard University, and the campus of a major DC university are all located along Connecticut Avenue, which was the scene of late-night violence.
Deaven Rector, a 22-year-old law student who lives in an apartment building that was evacuated following the incident, heard three bursts of gunfire.
It is now safe to go about one’s business, and the police have taken control of the situation. However, the notion that this level of disruption can be caused by a single psychopath on any other day of the week is troubling. “The students were set to finish their last day of school.”
After receiving a text message from her son, Jennifer DiGiacinto, the mother of an 11th-grader at Burke School, learned of the incident.
Because something terrible is taking place, you must turn isis critical that you turn on the television immediately.” “Why, what exactly is going on?” was my immediate response. He went on to say that they had barricaded themselves in. “Gunfire, I’m huddled beneath a desk.”
Emergency vehicles were seen parked along Connecticut Avenue in footage broadcast by local news stations. There were dozens of flashing police vehicles outside the school building, and officers dressed in full tactical gear and camouflage gathered outside the school building.
Evacuees sprinting along a sidewalk after escaping a building, some with their hands raised in the air, were captured on camera.
Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., addressed the media to express her grief at the prevalent usage of firearms in the United States of America. “When I had to gaze into the eyes of my parents, who were inconsolable, my heart plummeted even further. Furthermore, parents were concerned about the safety of their children.”
