Runners on treadmills thought an exercise ball had burst until someone dropped bleeding to the floor on Thursday morning. That burst of gunfire triggered a panic that left one person dead and four others injured during a terrifying Washington DC shooting just a mile north of the White House.
The violence erupted inside a fitness center attached to a residential building in the Logan Circle neighborhood. Paramedics rushed four victims to local trauma centers, where officials confirmed one patient remains in critical condition while three others suffered non-life-threatening wounds.
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Police cornered the gunman inside an upper-floor apartment shortly after the first calls for help. A tense standoff ended hours later when officers breached the barricaded door and found the shooter dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Gunfire erupts inside the Vida Fitness gym
Morning workouts were underway when the attacker walked into the Vida Fitness gym and opened fire without warning. Gym members scrambled across the workout floor, diving behind planters and heavy equipment to escape the line of fire.
Michael Carney was running on a treadmill when the first shot rang out. He initially mistook the loud pop for popping exercise equipment before spotting a victim down on the floor.
Someone quickly pulled a wall fire alarm to alert the rest of the complex. Carney and other survivors fled outside toward the street, where he heard five to ten additional rounds echoing from an adjacent alleyway.
Another witness inside the fitness center reported hearing a deafening crash before seeing crowds run for the exits. She only realized the sound was gunfire after building staff evacuated her onto the sidewalk.
How the standoff ended on the upper floors
After fleeing the fitness floor, the suspect retreated upstairs and barricaded himself inside a unit in the Logan Circle apartment complex. Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department swarmed the hallways and sealed off the surrounding block.
The gunman refused to surrender and fired through the apartment door at officers on at least two separate occasions. Crisis negotiators established phone contact with the man and tried to talk him out peacefully.
Those talks ended abruptly when officers heard a single gunshot over the phone line. When tactical units forced their way through the door, they found the white male suspect dead from a self-inflicted wound.
Officers also found a fire burning inside the apartment. Fire crews brought the blaze under control before it could spread to neighboring residences.
Residents flee smoke and muzzle flashes
The alarm sent hundreds of apartment residents into the stairwells, unaware that an armed shooter was moving through the building. Some walked directly into the line of fire as they pushed through emergency exits.
Jonathan Csapo, a resident who works as a broadcast producer, emerged from a fire escape to the sound of close-range gunshots.
I could see the smoke, I could see the flash. We just all started running. That was our first instinct.
Csapo and several neighbors ducked behind a small brick wall outside the structure to shield themselves from flying bullets. A building manager quickly ushered the group back inside into a secure safe room until tactical teams secured the premises.
What police know about the Washington DC shooting
Investigators are still piecing together what drove the gunman to target the property. Interim police chief Jefferey Carroll said detectives suspect a dispute tied to the property itself.
“We believe there was some sort of a conflict with the apartment building, but we don’t have much more than that,” Carroll said during a media briefing outside the scene.
District Mayor Muriel Bowser denounced the attack as a senseless act of violence and confirmed that city officials had briefed the White House. Federal authorities assisted local police in clearing the multi-story complex floor by floor.
Detectives are now examining the suspect’s background, tenancy records and firearm history as the medical examiner completes formal autopsies on the two deceased men.
Source: BBC
