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Five people were shot on Thursday morning in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., about a mile north of the White House, and one of them died, police said. The shooting happened at and around a VIDA Fitness gym near 15th and P streets Northwest, and the gunman then barricaded himself in an apartment in the building above the gym.
Jeffrey Carroll, the interim chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, said the suspect shot himself while barricaded inside the apartment as officers closed in. Carroll said the man apparently had a dispute with the building's homeowners association. The four other people who were shot were taken to hospitals, and their conditions were not immediately released.
Authorities believe the suspect shot at least one person inside the gym before going outside and firing again, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly. The official said the suspect then shot another person in a parking garage elevator before barricading himself on the seventh floor of the building.
James Spellman, who was exercising at the gym, said about 50 people were inside around 8 a.m. when the shooting began. "Within seconds there was a man who fell to the ground, and a pool of blood came out," he said. "One gym member rushed to help him. He was instantly dead. He had been shot in the neck." Spellman said he heard about two shots fired inside the gym and about five or six fired outside. Another witness, Ryan Dubicki, said he was in his nearby apartment when he heard about five bangs and thought it was construction, and a short time later "there were cops everywhere."
The Metropolitan Police Department posted its first alert at 8:23 a.m. Eastern, saying officers were on the scene of an active shooting in the area of 15th and P streets Northwest and that its Emergency Response Team was responding. Police issued a shelter-in-place order for the 1500 block of 15th Street Northwest and urged everyone else to stay away, cordoned off much of the block and closed surrounding streets, and schools in the area were placed on lockdown. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent agents to the scene, and the FBI said its Washington field office was helping local police with the investigation.
Police described the suspect as a white male, heavy-set and possibly wearing a gray shirt, and in a lookout alert described a heavy-built white man wearing gray shorts and carrying a gray and black gun. NBC News reported that authorities have identified the suspect, but police have not released his name. No motive has been confirmed, and the identities and conditions of the victims had not been released. The situation remains a developing story, and the details may change as officials confirm them.
Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto, who represents the area, wrote on X that the shooting took place "at and outside Vida fitness" and that multiple people had been shot, warning people to stay away from the area while police searched for the suspect.