Police in Washington DC have confirmed one person has been killed in this morning’s shooting and four injured.
“At this time, we have located a total of four individuals that were shot here on the scene, and one individual who is deceased,” Jeffery W Carroll, the interim chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, told a news conference.
Of the four surviving, one is in critical condition and the others do not have life-threatening injuries, he said.
He also said emergency services got a call just before 8am to report a shooting, and were on the scene “within 30 seconds”.
A witness to the deadly shooting at the DC gym this morning tells the Guardian he walked toward a loud bang and found a man lying dead on the floor, with blood nearby, before being evacuated past the body and hearing about five more gunshots outside.
Anthony Mirones, 23, had gone to Vida Fitness after a run and about five minutes after arriving, he went to the cardio area and got on a treadmill. At around 8am, he heard the first bang.
“Everyone’s confused. I’m confused,” Mirones said. “Did the painting fall? Did something even worse fall?”
He went toward the noise and saw someone on the ground. A person standing closer to the body looked back and told him the man was dead.
“So I come a little closer and I see body on floor, some blood,” Mirones said. “I’m thinking about the loud bangs. I’m like, gunshot.”
He says a woman tried to give first aid but stopped almost immediately. Mirones believed the wound was to the upper body, near the neck.
A gym employee came over, saw what had happened, and then the fire alarm went off, and everyone began to evacuate.
“Everyone evacuates, so we all evacuate eventually,” Mirones said. “The thing is, people who are in the cardio area kind of have to step over the body to exit.”
Outside, at the entrance, police officers rushed in. “One police officer unholsters his gun, and then another police officer is asking for a description of the assailant,” Mirones said. “While this guy is describing the assailant, we hear five or so gunshots, and then we just all scatter and run.”
In an update shared on social media, DC police have said:
The barricade has concluded. The scene is safe. Significant traffic closures remain in place. MPD is still asking the public to avoid the area.
According to multiple reports, the suspect has died.
The death was confirmed to the Associated Press by a law enforcement official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation into what happened and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
CNN, NBC News and BBC News hear the same, citing law enforcement sources.
These are from my colleague Joseph Gedeon ahead of the news conference a short while ago.
Vida Fitness has posted a story on Instagram informing members that its Logan Circle location is closed “until further notice” following the shooting.
“The safety and well-being of our members, guests, and team are our highest priorities. We ask that you avoid traveling to the Logan Circle location and surrounding area until further notice. If you are currently in the vicinity, please follow all instructions from local law enforcement,” the post said.
DC mayor Muriel Bowser told the news conference that this was “a senseless act of gun violence”, and that “this lone gunman has been contained”. She also confirmed the White House had been briefed.
The suspect had a handgun “at one point in time”, but police “don’t know if there’s other weapons that are involved”, Carroll said. The suspect was also a member of the gym.
Officers said they believe the suspect barricaded himself into his own apartment and that he shot at officers more than once.
“He did fire through the door at officers at least on two occasions while he was barricaded inside,” Carroll said.
The exact timeline and locations are still to be determined, but the first shooting was reported inside the gym; the exact motivation is still is also yet to be determined.
Police said they believe they “have an idea” who the suspect is and that he had “some sort of conflict with the apartment building”.
“We do know there was a conflict between him and the homeowners association of that building, but at this point we’re continuing to look into that,” Carroll said.
Carroll said that negotiators made contact with the suspect and had been talking to him for an hour over the phone. Officers later heard a gunshot and the suspect stopped communicating with them; they forced entry, and found the suspect suffering from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Emergency services have since been rendered, and his status has not been confirmed, Carroll added.
He said they believe the apartment belonged to the suspect.
Police are looking into everything and Carroll emphasized that they are “very early in the investigation”.
He added that they believe there was a fire at some point inside the building, and that it has been put out and contained.
Police discovered the suspect, a white male, with a gunshot wound in a nearby apartment building from where the initial shooting occurred, Carroll said. The suspect is “contained”, he added.
Police in Washington DC have confirmed one person has been killed in this morning’s shooting and four injured.
“At this time, we have located a total of four individuals that were shot here on the scene, and one individual who is deceased,” Jeffery W Carroll, the interim chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, told a news conference.
Of the four surviving, one is in critical condition and the others do not have life-threatening injuries, he said.
He also said emergency services got a call just before 8am to report a shooting, and were on the scene “within 30 seconds”.
Further to that, NBC News reports that the suspect is barricaded in an apartment building above the gym on 15th Street, citing a federal law enforcement official.
