Suspect arrested in 5 shootings of homeless people in NYC, DC, police say
Police in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday said they arrested a man they believe is responsible for five targeted shootings of homeless individuals in New York City and the nation’s capital.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WPIX) — Police in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday said they arrested a man they believe is responsible for five targeted shootings of homeless individuals in New York City and the nation’s capital.
The shooting spree that spanned several weeks left two men dead. All five victims were linked together by bullets fired from the same gun, according to police.
Mayor Eric Adams and New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell stood side by side with officials from D.C. on Monday night to announce a combined $70,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. Adams condemned the shootings as a “cold-blooded attack.”
“Homelessness should not be a homicide,” the mayor said.
Police in the two cities earlier released multiple surveillance photographs, including a close-up snapshot clearly showing the man's face, and urged people who might know him to come forward.
Investigators in the two cities began to suspect a link between the shootings on Sunday after a Metropolitan Police Department homicide captain — a former resident of New York City — saw surveillance photos that had been released Saturday night by the New York Police Department while scrolling through social media.
The man in those photos looked similar to the one being sought by his own department.
The attacks in D.C. happened first. On March 3, a man suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds, police said. Several days later on March 8, another man suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds. Police and firefighters responded on March 9 to a tent fire. They found human remains inside. An autopsy found the man had been stabbed and shot before his death.
On Saturday in New York, a 38-year-old homeless man was shot as he slept in Manhattan, police said. Another homeless man was fatally shot in the head nearby.
A third homeless man’s body was found in Tribeca on Sunday, but police later said the death was not connected to the other shootings.
Police in Washington, D.C. said early Tuesday that the suspect was being interviewed at the department's Homicide Branch. The motive for the attacks remained unclear. Charges were expected to be filed.
The latest attacks were reminiscent of the beating deaths of four homeless men as they slept on the streets in New York’s Chinatown in the fall of 2019. Another homeless man, Randy Santos, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in those attacks.
A year ago, four people were stabbed in New York City, two fatally, by a man who randomly attacked homeless people in the subway system. That assailant, who was also homeless, is awaiting trial.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.