Suspect found dead after shooting 4, causing panic in DC
Raymond Spencer, 23, the man suspected of shooting three adults and a child on Friday afternoon in the Van Ness neighborhood of Northwest DC, has been found dead in an apartment building in that area.
Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said on Friday that investigators had yet to determine a motive for the shooting, adding that the gunman had acted alone.
Spencer, who was found dead in the bathroom, apparently took his own life after police entered the building.
Police seized more than half a dozen firearms, including several rifles, and large amounts of ammunition in the apartment, which had been arranged in a "sniper-type setup" with a tripod weapons mount, the chief said.
Contee told reporters four people were shot at random as "they were going about their business ... on the streets of the District of Columbia." he told reporters.
A 54-year-old man and a woman in her mid-30s with severe wounds, along with a 12-year-old girl wounded in the arm were taken to area hospitals.
Also, a woman in her mid-60s suffered a graze wound to her backside of her shoulder and was treated at the scene.
Deadly gun violence has become an everyday phenomenon in the United States. In 2020 alone, 19,384 people were killed in gun homicides, showing a 35 percent increase from the previous year and the largest one-year increase in gun homicides on record.
The Democratic Party vows in every election to introduce new measures to clamp down on gun violence.
US President Joe Biden made combating gun violence and passing new gun laws a priority for himself.
Republicans, however, who are expected to win upcoming elections, are opposed to anti-gun measures Biden proposes, maintaining such measures infringe on the constitutional rights of gun owners.
Instead, Republicans propose more policing and increased gun ownership to combat the crime surge.
“We see a lot of opportunity” heading into the midterms, said National Rifle Association spokesperson Andrew Arulanandam. “Whether the gun control lobby realizes it or not, there’s an increased appreciation and realization in this country that gun control does not make people safer.”
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