Author: RIVER ZHANG | ALANNA | DURKIN RICHER
Five people were shot Thursday in a trendy Washington, DC, neighbourhood within walking distance of the White House, police said, and the suspected gunman shot himself as a swarm of officers responded to a nearby apartment building. One victim died in the shooting, said Jeffrey Carroll, interim chief with the Metropolitan Police Department.
Carroll said the suspect shot himself while barricaded inside an apartment. He added that the man apparently had a dispute with the building's homeowners association.
The shootings were reported in Logan Circle, about a mile north of the White House. Much of the block on 15th Street was cordoned off as police urged people to avoid the area, which includes a VIDA fitness centre, St Luke's Episcopal Church, residences and a Whole Foods supermarket. Schools were on lockdown. Law enforcement SWAT teams and other officers had their guns drawn on the roof of an apartment building or on the ground below.
Authorities believe the suspect shot at least one person inside the gym before going outside and firing again, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorised to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Law enforcement agents believe the suspect shot another person in a parking garage elevator and then barricaded himself on the seventh floor of the building, the official said. Witness James Spellman, who was at the gym, said there were about 50 people there around 8 am when the shooting began.
“Within seconds, there was a man who fell to the ground, and a pool of blood came out,” he said. “One gym member rushed to help him. He was instantly dead. He had been shot in the neck.”
Spellman said he and others dashed out of the gym. He said he heard about two shots fired in the gym and about five or six fired outside. Another witness, Ryan Dubicki, said he was in his nearby apartment around the same time when he “heard about five bangs.”