At least four persons were injured on Friday, 20 April, after a 23-year-old gunman opened fire in an upscale neighbourhood in Washington DC, before allegedly killing himself.
Quoting the police, Reuters reported that the suspect Raymond Spencer was identified from a video he had posted on social media. The video reportedly showed gunshots fired from the vantage point of his fifth floor apartment, captioned: "Shool shooting!"
Several reports said that Spencer died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The residents in Connecticut Avenue-Van Ness neighbourhood of Washington were evacuated and the area is on lockdown since the shooting.
Police evacuate people near the scene of a shooting Friday, April 22, 2022, in northwest Washington. At least four people were shot when a gunman unleashed a flurry of bullets in the nation's capital. The hail of gunfire led to lockdowns at several schools and left a community on edge before the suspect was found dead hours later.
(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP via PTI)
The neighbourhood is home to Edmund Burke Secondary School, a university and a number of embassies. The attack reportedly took place as classes were about to be dismissed for the day.
Police were seen pointing weapons upward at the buildings while the residents were escorted to safety.
Quoting Assistant Police Chief Stuart Emerman, Reuters reported that a cache of firearms was seized from the suspect's apartment, which had been arranged in a "sniper-type setup."
The three people – a 54-year-old man, a woman in her mid-30s with severe wounds, and a 12-year-old girl wounded in the arm – are being treated at the hospital. Another 60-year-old woman, who suffered minor injuries, was treated at the scene last night.
(With inputs from Reuters.)
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