An intense manhunt ended early Tuesday when police in Washington, D.C. arrested a suspect in the shootings of at least five homeless men there and in Manhattan. Two of the victims were killed.
D.C. police say the suspect was spotted walking on a city street.
No identity was released. The shootings happened in a nine-day span.
A reward of up to $70,000 was being offered for information leading to the suspect.
Officials say he shot three sleeping men in Washington, one fatally. The latest victim, in Manhattan, was asleep when he was shot to death Saturday, authorities said. And New York Mayor Eric Adams said the fifth victim woke up, apparently startling the gunman who then shot him, but not fatally.
CBS New York reports that surveillance video from the most recent shooting shows the suspect looking around and walking past the victim before turning around and kicking him several times, then pulling out a gun and firing.
The deadly attack was tied to another shooting earlier in the day. That victim was recovering in a hospital.
In a joint statement before the arrest, Adams and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said, “As our law enforcement agencies work quickly with federal partners to locate the suspect, we are also calling on unsheltered residents to seek shelter.”
In Washington Monday, police passed out fliers with the suspect’s photo to homeless people, CBS New York reported. NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said police were doing similar outreach there.
We launched a citywide effort to reach out to the homeless population and urge them with three goals — to warn them and seek shelter, to ask them if they had encountered this subject from the pictures we showed them, and to ensure there were no undiscovered victims,” Sewell said.
