The suspect believed to have shot four people in a Friday attack in Washington, D.C., was found dead on Friday night, police said in a press conference.
Raymond Spencer, 23, opened fire from his apartment window on Friday afternoon after configuring a rifle and tripod in a “sniper-type setup,” according to police.
“This was very much a sniper-type setup,” D.C. police chief Robert Contee told reporters. “Obviously his intent was to kill and hurt members of our community.”
Police did not indicate a more specific motive for the incident.
Four people were injured in the shooting, including a twelve-year-old girl and a former member of the D.C., police. All the victims are expected to recover from their injuries.
The shooting occurred in the city’s Van Ness neighborhood and prompted a lockdown of several schools and the University of D.C. Various foreign embassies including those of China, Israel, and Pakistan are also located near the site of the shooting.
A picture of Spencer’s apartment released by police showed that the suspect had a poster that depicts Yakub, a figure associated with the Nation of Islam. Investigators are looking into alleged social media posts by the suspect during the time of the shooting, three law enforcement officials told the Washington Post.
In October 2002, a series of shootings known as the D.C. sniper attacks left ten people dead. Suspects John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested for the killings, and Malvo later testified in court that Muhammad had planned to extort money and terrorize cities. Muhammad was executed in November 2009, and Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.