One killed, four injured in Washington gym shooting

One person was killed and four others were injured in a shooting in Washington, D.C.’s Logan Circle neighborhood. Police said the gunman later barricaded himself in an apartment adjoining the VIDA Fitness gym where the first shooting was reported.

The first call for help came from inside the gym at about 8 a.m. Officers and emergency responders arrived within 30 seconds and found an adult man who had been shot, interim Metropolitan Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said, according to NPR. Additional calls reported gunfire and more victims as the gunman left the area.

Police found five people who had been shot: one who died and four who survived. One of the survivors was in critical condition; the other three had injuries that were not life-threatening, The Guardian reported, citing Carroll.

The gunman barricaded himself in a seventh-floor apartment in a building adjoining the gym, according to NPR. Police believe the apartment belonged to him. Carroll said negotiators made contact with the gunman and police talked with him by phone for about an hour, The Guardian reported. Officers later heard a gunshot, and the gunman stopped communicating. They entered the apartment and found him with what Carroll described as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

NPR reported that Carroll said the gunman was found dead in the apartment. In The Guardian’s account of Carroll’s briefing, he said emergency services had been provided and the gunman’s status had not been confirmed at that point.

Carroll said the gunman fired through the apartment door at officers at least twice while barricaded inside, The Guardian reported. Police said he had a handgun at one point but were investigating whether other weapons were involved.

Anthony Mirones, 23, told The Guardian he had been on a treadmill for about five minutes when he heard a loud bang. He walked toward the noise and saw a man on the floor with blood nearby. “I’m thinking about the loud bangs. I’m like, gunshot,” he said.

Mirones said gymgoers began evacuating after a fire alarm sounded. At the entrance, he saw officers rush inside. As one officer asked for a description of the assailant, Mirones said, those outside heard “five or so gunshots” and scattered.

The gunman was a gym member, The Guardian reported, citing Carroll. Police knew of a conflict between him and the apartment building’s homeowners association but had not determined a motive. Carroll said investigators had not established whether the gunman knew the victims. The sequence and locations of the shootings remained under investigation.

Mayor Muriel Bowser called the attack “a senseless act of gun violence” and said the White House had been briefed, according to The Guardian. VIDA Fitness told members its Logan Circle location would remain closed “until further notice” and asked people to avoid traveling to that location and the surrounding area.