A Metro worker waskilled while attempting to disarman active shooter in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, city officials report.
The shooter’s rampage started on a city bus and ended in a Metro tunnel after three people were shot and another injured. The suspect, who remains unidentified to the public,is now in custody.
Two victims suffered from gunshot wounds to the leg and a third suffered from a “fragmentation injury to his finger,” officials report.
During a Wednesday press conference, Metropolitan Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict called the actions of deceased Metro employeeRobert Cunningham, along with other passengers, “heroic,“adding how “the fact that our citizens had to intervene with armed gunmen is disturbing to me.”
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Scene of shooting in Washington, D.C.Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/Shutterstock
“Shortly after 9 a.m., there was an altercation on a Metro bus at 14th Potomac Avenue [Metro Station],” Benedict stated. “There was an individual brandishing a weapon, engaging passengers on this bus.”
Police determined that the person followed one of those individuals off the bus and “shot at this individual, striking him in the legs.”
“The intent of what he is trying to do is not clear at this point,” he added, referring to the incident as a “series of individual events.”
Benedict reported that the other three victims are recovering from “non-life-threatening injuries.”
Scene of shooting in Washington, D.C.John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The second individual was shot as the shooter went down the escalator to the Metro platform and according to Benedict, an altercation occurred with someone “attempting to buy” a Metro card.
After another gunshot to the leg, the second victim was able to break free and was transported to the hospital, Benedict said.
As the shooter went further down the escalator, a third altercation occurred “with a woman at this point,” attempting to rob her “or get in some kind of altercation with her.”
Of Cunningham “de-escalat(ing) the situation,” Benedict said, “I believe he successfully does so, because no one is shot after this individual was shot,” adding that they “have four victims in total.”
The city’s Mayor,Muriel Bowser, stated that they “do not know much about the shooter at this moment” other than the fact that they “had a person with a gun who has created yet another tragedy in our city,” Bowser said of the suspect who was arrested at the platform, before paying her respects to the family of the deceased employee.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” Benedict said, once again acknowledging “the heroic actions that took place today.”
PEOPLE has reached out to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
source: people.com
