Newsman: The man police believe randomly shot four people in Northwest D.C. Friday afternoon have been found dead, and police say he had “sniper-type setup” in an apartment. Among the items police found in the apartment were several firearms, including long guns, multiple rounds of ammunition and handguns. D.C. police Chief Robert Contee also confirmed the presence of a tripod.
The four victims were a 54-year-old man who is a retired police officer, a woman in her 30s, a woman in her mid-60s who was grazed by a bullet, and a 12-year-old girl who was shot in the arm. Assistant Police Chief Stuart Emerman said at a news conference earlier Friday evening that they were stable. The two adults had critical injuries and the girl had minor injuries.
Emerman identified the fourth victim as Patricia Termini, who was grazed on her shoulder. She was treated at the scene and did not go to the hospital.
D.C. police Chief Robert Contee said police believe the man killed himself as officers were entering the fifth-floor apartment where he was staying. Contee did not identify him and said police were waiting to inform the next of kin.
“This was a sniper-type setup,” Contee said, adding that police believe there are no other people involved. “Obviously, his intent was to kill and hurt members of our community,” and this person was just “shooting randomly at anyone who was out there.”
Contee said that the gunman was shooting from north to south, and fired multiple rounds — “definitely in excess of 20 rounds.”
The chief also reflected on the events of the D.C. sniper almost 20 years ago that left 10 people dead and terrified the region.
“We all recall back in that time when we had…the D.C. sniper situation unfolding. Unfortunately, that situation unfolded over the course of several days. This incident was over and resolved in a matter of a few hours,” Contee said.
However, earlier Friday, D.C. police identified Raymond Spencer, 23, of Fairfax, Virginia, as a person of interest who been “linked to social media postings” that emerged as part of the investigation, Assistant Police Chief Stuart Emerman said. Contee said they are no longer looking for Spencer.
Police are working to find out the motive in Friday’s shooting and will be working with partners, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to determine that.
Preliminary findings show that the weapons found in the apartment may have been obtained legally; police still do not yet know whether the video circulating on the shooting was livestreamed or whether it was recorded and posted.
Police are also in the process of authenticating the video — meaning that they haven’t determined whether it was from Friday’s shooting or if it’s even from a separate shooting within the U.S.
