DC sniper wounds 4
Then kills himself
A crazed sniper shot three adults and a girl in a leafy section of Washington, DC, on Friday before taking his own life hours later as police closed in on the apartment where he was suspected of carrying out the attack, authorities said.
The shooter erected a “snipertype setup” inside his fifth-floor apartment and fired indiscriminately at passers-by at about 3:20 p.m. on
Van Ness Street near Connecticut Avenue in the Northwest section of the city, police said.
Two women, a man and a 12-year-old girl were injured by the gunfire and hospitalized in stable condition.
One woman was in her 30s and the other, who was grazed in the back, was in her 60s, police said. A 54-yearold male retired police officer was also struck, according to authorities.
Authorities did not identify the suspect and would not confirm if it was Raymond Spencer, 23, who had earlier been named a person of interest in the shooting that took place near a prep school and a number of colleges.
Before the suspect was found dead, police had urged residents in the upscale neighborhood to shelter in place.
Police recovered six firearms and multiple rounds of ammunition in the suspect’s Van Ness Street lair. It appeared that the weapons were legally purchased, police said.
The attacker appeared to have live-streamed the shooting on social media, police said, but added that the footage had yet to be “authenticated.”
Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee said it appeared the victims were randomly targeted while “going about their business . . . on the streets of the District of Columbia.”
“This was very much a sniper-type setup with a tripod and this person, obviously, his intent was to kill and hurt members of this community,” Contee said.