Before a suspect took his own life, he shot and injured four individuals before opening fire from his D.C. apartment’s window in “sniper-style” on Friday.
Police in the Van Ness and Cleveland Park neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. arrived about 3:20 p.m. and discovered three victims — two males and a girl who is 12 years old.
According to a news conference held by the Washington, D.C. police on Friday evening, the two men are critically injured but in stable condition, while the youngster was sent to the hospital with a minor bullet wound. According to investigators, one of the individuals was a former Metropolitan police officer.
Later, a fourth victim who had been wounded by a bullet stepped forward. The victim, a middle-aged lady, was taken to the hospital with a graze cut to her upper back, according to police.
According to Metropolitan Police Department Police Chief Robert Contee, the suspect was found dead in his residence when police arrived. He took his own life.
According to Contee, a tripod had been set up in the flat on the fifth floor, and the suspect looked to be randomly shooting individuals on the street below.
“Multiple, multiple rounds” of ammunition and six firearms were seized from the suspect’s residence.
According to Contee, a long gun fired “over 100 bullets” in the incident.
“There are probably going to be a lot of bullet holes we’re going to find,” he said.
“Based upon the things we have seen on social media,” Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Stuart Emerman stated to reporters that police had first identified Raymond Spencer, 23, of Fairfax, Virginia, as a person of interest.
On Saturday, D.C. police verified that Spencer was the shooter.
Contee was , however, uncertain whether the video was broadcast live or captured and subsequently released. But, he acknowledged that the video looked to be authentic.
“Today, evil reared its ugly head in our community,” Contee said.
“It speaks to the depravity of some of the individuals we have to face in our community. … There could’ve been more damage done, more lives lost,” Contee later added.
Earlier in the evening, Emerman said, “We’d like to speak to Mr. Spencer, figure out if he has any role in this or any connection to this. Hopefully that’ll lead us in a direction to identify what happened here and why.”
