Man fatally shot 1, wounded 2 in Washington, D.C., before train passengers disarmed him, police say

WASHINGTON — A person “randomly” brandishing a firearm shot three folks, killing one, in a Wednesday morning rampage within the nation’s capital that began on a metropolis bus and led to a Metro tunnel after passengers attacked and disarmed him.

Authorities have been nonetheless piecing collectively the chaotic sequence of occasions that left two folks with gunshot wounds to the leg and Metro worker Robert Cunningham shot useless. The shooter is in police custody and has not been publicly recognized.

Metropolitan Police Division Government Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict praised the “heroic actions of our residents, our neighborhood, to disarm this shooter.”

However he added, “The truth that our residents needed to intervene with armed gunmen is disturbing to me.”

The violence started shortly after 9 a.m. when the person started brandishing a weapon and confronting passengers on a metropolis bus within the southeast space of town. The person pursued one of many passengers off the bus and shot them within the leg, Benedict stated.

The person then went down the escalator of the close by Potomac Avenue Metro cease, confronted somebody who was shopping for a Metro go and shot that particular person within the leg as nicely. Each victims have been recovering in native hospitals.

The armed man then went right down to the practice platform and commenced confronting a lady there. Benedict characterised his habits as deeply erratic, saying, “He’s strolling round brandishing a firearm and simply randomly participating folks in confrontation. He’s clearly agitated about one thing.”

At that time, Cunningham, a 64-year-old mechanic in Metro’s energy division, tried to intervene and was killed by a gunshot. An announcement from Paul Smedberg, chair of the Metro board, stated Cunningham “acted with excessive bravery to assist a buyer who was being threatened by the shooter.”

The armed man then tried to board a Metro practice and was apparently confronted and disarmed by the passengers. He exited the practice automobile and was taken into custody by law enforcement officials, who recovered his weapon on the practice tracks, Benedict stated.

Mayor Muriel Bowser stated the shootings spotlight the necessity for severe gun management. Bowser and the Police Division have lately endured intense public stress after a metropolis worker shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who was a part of a bunch of youth breaking into parked automobiles on his block. The resident was charged this week with second-degree homicide.

“We’re targeted on how we get weapons out of our metropolis,” Bowser stated. “Whether or not it’s the Metro, it’s the road, it’s in particular person properties, we all know that we’ve weapons which might be creating tragedies in our metropolis and in our nation.”

Metro Basic Supervisor Randy Clarke stated his administration had lately beefed up safety measures, together with elevated police patrols and video surveillance. However he stated the morning’s incident was indicative of a wider concern past Metro safety.

“This isn’t a Metro-specific security concern; it’s an American gun violence concern,” Clarke stated.