WASHINGTON, D.C.—A suspect in shootings that left four people wounded on Friday was found dead of suicide in an apartment, along with an arsenal of weapons, a sniper-style setup, and a large quantity of ammunition, authorities said.
It appears the suspected gunman—whose name had not been officially released by authorities—livestreamed the terrifying incident, filmed from his perspective, on social media.
“His intent was to kill and hurt members of our community,” D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said.
“It just appears that this person was just shooting at anyone who was out there randomly.”
Patricia Termini was at the nearby Edmund Burke School to pick up a student when she heard gunfire and jumped back into her car to avoid being shot. Still, she was grazed by a round as she sheltered inside the vehicle.
“I was waiting in the alley, and all of a sudden there was a burst of what I thought were explosions,” Termini, who is in her mid-60s, told NBC Washington. “And then the second burst came, and I laid down in my car, and I called the people whose kid I was picking up, and I said, ‘There’s some explosions or a bomb. I don’t know if it’s shootings or what,’” she said. “And at that point a bullet came from behind me and it grazed my shoulder, and I got up, and at that point I said to myself, ‘I need to get out of here.’”
The terrifying drama unfolded Friday afternoon near the Edmund Burke private prep school and the University of the District of Columbia.
Police say two women, a man, and a 12-year-old were wounded by bullets. In the hours after, authorities said they were searching for a person of interest: Raymond Spencer, 23, of Fairfax, Virginia.
Three law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation told The Washington Post on Friday night that investigators are analyzing online postings they believe Spencer may have left behind. A user with the same name had written on 4chan, “Dear God please forgive me,” followed by one after the shooting that said, “They’re in the wrong part of the building right now searching XD.” A third and final message, posted at 3:36 p.m., read, “Waiting for police to catch up with me.”
“We believe that the suspect took his own life as MPD members were entering or breaching the apartment where the suspect was located,” Contee said. The suspect was reportedly found dead in the bathroom of the apartment.
In a photo of the apartment released by the Metro PD, a picture can be seen on the wall of a figure that resembles Yakub, a mythical Black scientist popularized by Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad and mockingly turned into a meme by 4chan denizens.
High school senior Emma Schultz told The Daily Beast she lives in the next apartment over from the shooter. When she heard the shots, she called her father, who was out for a walk, and he told her it was just construction noise.
“And I said, ‘No it’s not,’” Schultz recalled.
She said she rushed out to help and “saw people on the ground.”
Although Spencer lived in apartment 511 and Schultz lives in 512, she said she didn’t know him at all.
“I had no idea who that guy is, I don’t remember seeing him around, ever,” she said. “Other people were saying they’ve seen him before… I guess he’s always inside.”
Schultz told The Daily Beast that the apartment next door where the shooter was had a camera on the left side of the door watching the hallway.
Another building resident who identified himself only as Kenya, lives on the second floor but wasn’t home when the shots rang out.
“I was scared for my roommate,” Kenya told The Daily Beast, saying he was given the option to stay at a hotel this evening as law enforcement officials continue to scour the building for clues.
On Wikipedia, the Edmund Burke School page had been revised Friday afternoon by a user named Raymond Spencer, to read, “A gunman shot at the school on April 22, 2022. The suspect is still at large.” The revision linked to a profile for Spencer, describing him as “proudly uncircumcised” and an “AR-15 aficionado.”
At 11 p.m. Friday, blood could be seen on the street at the scene as investigators worked the area. Metro Police Lt. Jason Bagshaw declined to comment on the investigation when asked for details by The Daily Beast.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, in a statement late Friday, said the city had suffered a “heartbreaking day” after “a person who had no business having a gun got access to one and used it to terrorize a school community.”
“Unfortunately, tonight, I looked into the eyes of parents who were terrified, and they were terrified thinking of what might happen to their children,” she said, adding that two other shootings had taken place in the city even as she met with families rocked by the violence near Edmund Burke School.
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