One man was killed and another, a man who served in the Trump administration, was critically injured Monday in Washington, D.C., in an hourslong crime and carjacking spree.
Mike Gill, who worked at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission under former President Donald Trump, was shot and injured in the violence that began shortly before 5:45 p.m. Monday, said Erica Richardson, a spokesperson for the Gill family.
Gill remained in critical condition Wednesday, Richardson said.
He now works as senior vice president of capital markets with the Housing Policy Council, according to his biography.
“Mike is an amazing husband, father, friend and colleague,” Richardson said in a statement. “His warmth and kindness have touched the lives of many, evident in the outpouring of love and support his family has received during this difficult time.”
Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement Tuesday that the spree started Monday afternoon when a person, who was not identified, got into a vehicle and shot the male driver before running away.
Gill’s family has said that was him.
In a report, police said that the incident, which involved a Jeep Grand Cherokee, spanned about three minutes and that the victim, whom officials have not named, sustained “life-threatening injuries.”
Police said the attacker then tried to steal a Mercedes-Benz about 7:05 p.m., displaying a handgun in his waistband and demanding that the driver hand over the keys multiple times. The man did not steal the Mercedes, police said.
About 10 minutes later, the spree turned deadly, police said.
The attacker approached a man and a woman and demanded keys, police said. He then fatally shot Alberto Vasquez Jr, 35, and fled in a stolen Chrysler 200, according to an incident report.
“They gave up the keys, and, for whatever reason, the guy still shot him and ended up killing my son,” his mother, Antoinette Walker, told NBC Washington.
The man, who is accused in two other carjackings in Prince George’s County, Maryland, fired once at a cruiser on Interstate 295 on Tuesday morning, police said.
“The cruiser sustained a single gunshot to the driver’s side door and shattered the driver’s side window,” according to an incident report.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said in a statement Tuesday that the suspect was fatally shot Tuesday morning in nearby New Carrollton during an encounter with police.
New Carrollton police saw a disabled SUV and discovered it had been reported stolen, officials said.
In searching the area for the SUV’s occupants, officers were approached by a man who displayed two handguns, the AG said.
Two officers fired their weapons, striking the man, according to the attorney general. No officers were injured, the statement said.
On Wednesday, the AG identified the suspect as Artell Cunningham, 28, of Suitland, Maryland.
His relatives could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
The attorney general’s office identified the New Carrollton police officers who fired their weapons as Sgt. Byron Purnell, a six-year veteran, and Cpl. Carlos Batenga, who has five years of law enforcement experience.
Both officers are assigned to the Patrol Unit, according to the attorney general’s office, which said the police shooting remained under investigation.
Neither Purnell nor Batenga could be reached for comment Wednesday night.