Suspect Arrested in Shootings of Five Homeless Men in New York City and DC

Police in New York City and Washington were working together on the mystery shootings

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New York Mayor Eric Adams, left, and Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee, right, listen as Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a news conference about the search for a gunman that has been targeting homeless men sleeping on the streets of Washington, and New York City, Monday, March 14, 2022, in Washington.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, left, and Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee, right, listen as Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a news conference about the search for a gunman that has been targeting homeless men sleeping on the streets of Washington, and New York City, Monday, March 14, 2022, in Washington.
Photo: Evan Vucci (AP)

Police in Washington D.C. have arrested a suspect they believe is responsible for a series of shootings targeting homeless people in New York City and Washington, according to ABC News.

Just last month, a police officer in California was cleared for fatally shooting a homeless Black man. In December 2021, a real estate agent was suspected in a series of shootings involving homeless men.

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On Twitter, the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed the arrest, thanking the community for all of their tips.

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From ABC News:

A law enforcement source told ABC News that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents from the Washington Field Division arrested a man that investigators believe is the suspect in the shootings. The arrest was made early Tuesday morning along Pennsylvania Avenue in southeastern Washington.

The mayors of New York City and Washington had offered a $70,000 reward in connection to deadly shootings involving people experiencing homelessness between the two cities.

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In a joint press conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the news of the suspect being arrested in DC.

Mayor Adams said, “Homelessness should not be a homicide. This was a cold-blooded attack.”

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Also in a joint news release, they said both communities “are heartbroken and disturbed by these heinous crimes in which an individual has been targeting some of our most vulnerable residents.”

They also said in the news release, “It is heartbreaking and tragic to know that in addition to all the dangers that unsheltered residents face, we now have a cold-blooded killer on the loose, but we are certain that we will get the suspect off the street and into police custody.”

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More from ABC News:

Washington and New York City police were jointly investigating the shootings of five homeless people across both cities that they said may have been committed by the same suspect.

Because of similarities in “the modus operandi of the perpetrator, common circumstances involved in each shooting, circumstances of the victims and recovered evidence,” both police departments will jointly investigate the shootings with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, they said in a Sunday news release

The first shootings occurred in Washington on March 3, 8 and 9. The victim found on March 9 was discovered by police when they were responding to a tent fire in the city’s northeast. He succumbed to stab and gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy.