Metro employee killed while trying to stop man shooting at commuters
A Metro employee who tried to stop a gunman targeting commuters Wednesday was fatally shot on a DC train station platform in a shooting rampage that injured three others, halted rail service for hours and again left residents unsettled as the city continues to confront gun violence.
Police said the gunman, whom they did not name but had taken into custody, appeared to select his victims randomly near the end of the morning rush hour.
The attack started on a Metrobus travelling from Maryland and ended underground on the platform of the Potomac Avenue Metro station in Southeast Washington.
Investigators are working to identify a motive.
Speaking at the scene shortly after the shooting, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said much was unknown about the circumstances of the shooting, other than “we had a person with a gun who’s created yet another tragedy in our city.”
The shooting is the latest eruption of violence to rattle passengers on the nation’s public transit systems, a spate of incidents that in the Washington region led Metro to boost patrols systemwide.
The morning attack followed other shootings in the Southeast neighbourhood, increasing calls among some neighbours for a larger police presence near the Metro station.
Transit police and DC police were called to Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street SE at about 9.20am and found what DC Executive Assistant Police Chief Ashan Benedict described as a “series of individual” shooting scenes.
The first was on the Metrobus, where an “altercation” onboard spilled onto the street near the stop on Potomac Avenue SE, police said.
The gunman, who had been riding the bus, followed a fellow passenger off and shot the person in the legs as the passenger ran away.
The gunman then descended underground and shot another person in the leg as the rider tried to buy a Metro card, police said.
The attack continued to the platform, where authorities said the gunman approached a woman while the firearm was “brandished at his side.”
A Metro employee, identified by the transit agency as Robert Cunningham, 64, witnessed the altercation and tried to intervene, police said. The gunman then shot Cunningham, who died at the scene.
“His heroism has to be recognised today,” Benedict said.
After police said a second transit officer tried to “deescalate” the situation, and other riders on the platform tackled the gunman to the ground, authorities said police took him into custody.
The two people who were shot in the legs were taken to hospitals with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening, police said. A fourth victim suffered a hand injury.
Cunningham, who was a mechanic in the transit agency’s power department, had worked at Metro for more than 20 years, according to the transit agency.