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At least four people have been injured after a suspect opened fire in Washington D.C. near a college prep school on Friday.
“At approximately 3:20 this afternoon, members of the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the area of Connecticut Ave and Van Ness St NW for reported sounds of gunshots,” Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Stuart Emerman saidin a press briefingabout the shooting near the Edmund Burke School.
During a press briefing held Friday afternoon, Emerman had originally stated there were three gunshot victims: “Two of the individuals are adults, and are considered in stable condition based on their injuries. The third victim is a juvenile, and that juvenile is in stable condition with a minor gunshot wound.”
“I was waiting in the alley, and all of a sudden there was a burst of what I thought were explosions,” she said viaNBC Washington.
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“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 continued. “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.'”
Police are still investigating the motive behind the attack but named named 23-year-old Raymond Spencer of Fairfax, Virginia as a person of interest.
Duringa press conferenceon Friday night, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said, “We believe that the suspect took his own life as MPD members were entering or breaching the apartment where the suspect was located.” He did not confirm the identity of the suspect.
Police said they recovered six firearms in the suspect’s apartment, including several long guns, multiple rounds of ammunition, and hand guns, and Chief Contee confirmed it was a “sniper-type” setup with a tripod.
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“It just appears that this person was just shooting randomly at anyone who was out there,” he said.
No first responders were injured during the incident, and schools in the area were placed on lockdown with officers. Nearly all of the children sheltered in place at schools have been reunited with family members.
source: people.com
