The suspected gunman in Friday’s Van Ness shooting killed himself as police were trying to breach an apartment, MPD Chief Robert Contee reports. No one was killed in the apparently indiscriminate attack, but four were injured. The shooting drew a massive police response and left a school and neighborhood shaken after a nearly six-hour manhunt and lockdown.

Police were looking to speak with 23-year-old Raymond Spencer of Fairfax after an investigation into social media accounts and a suspected video of the shooting led them to identify Spencer as a “person of interest.”

“I am unable to confirm the identity of the suspect at this time, pending official notification to the family,” Contee said. “But I will say that we put out a person of interest earlier and we are no longer looking for that person of interest.”

“Evil reared its ugly head in our community,” Contee added.

Police recovered six guns, including long guns and handguns, multiple rounds of ammunition, and a tripod at the window of a fifth-floor apartment at the AVA Van Ness, 2950 Van Ness St. NW.

Contee called it a “sniper-type setup” with a goal to hurt and kill people at random. It did not appear the suspect targeted specific people or buildings, he said.

“It speaks to the depravity of some of the individuals that we have to face in our communities,” Contee said.

Spencer did not appear to have a criminal record, according to preliminary police searches, Contee said.

Four people were injured, but all are in stable condition.

Contee said they are still investigating the motive, but he said the community is safe after a more than six-hour ordeal that forced residents out of their homes and families scrambling to meet up with children who were in a school lockdown.

A widely shared video of the incident that appears to have been filmed by the shooter shows bullets hitting a glass walkway at the school and also at the street below.

Police also believe bullets hit a Cleveland Park restaurant window and a vehicle nearly three-quarters of a mile away from the apartment building.

Police say the victims — who range in age from 12 to mid-60s — were struck on the street near the Edmund Burke School around 3:20 p.m. – minutes after school was dismissed. One parent told FOX5 that her daughter and others were hit by glass when they were in the glass bridge.

Police are not sure if Spencer had any connections to the school. The Washington Post reported that a Wikipedia user named Raymond Spencer edited the Edmund Burke School Wikipedia page to read, “A gunman shot at the school on April 22, 2022. The suspect is still at large.” The revision was made about an hour after the shooting and before the suspect was publically identified by police.

Witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots in two bursts. Some said it sounded like a jackhammer or construction. MPD told residents in the Van Ness and Cleveland Park neighborhoods to avoid the area and shelter in place as police went building to building to find the shooter.

The victims include a 54-year-old male, a female in her mid-30s, and a 12-year-old who was shot in the arm. All are in stable condition at the hospital. A woman in her mid-60s told police she had a bullet graze her back. She was treated at the scene and released.

Police responded to the shooting with dozens of cop cars, armored vehicles, ambulances and dozens of officers, some in tactical gear. The Secret Service, U.S. Park Police, UDC Police, the FBI, the ATF, and other agencies also responded to the scene. Police said they sent so many officers because of the “fluid nature” of the event and the sheer number of calls they received. They also needed to search multiple large buildings in the area.

It’s unclear why the manhunt and lockdown took nearly six hours – the gunman was found in the apartment where the shooting and the video originated. MPD’s press office said they did not have details of the timeline or police movements yet.

Authorities closed portions of the busy Connecticut Ave, Tilden St., and Van Ness streets NW throughout the afternoon and evening. Residents in some apartment buildings nearby were evacuated and law enforcement had them run to a safer area.

In addition to Edmund Burke, several other schools and colleges were also placed on lockdown. Howard University School of Law, and the Van Ness campus of the University of the District of Columbia are in the area.

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Police say they sheltered with students at Edmund Burke School, and later brought kids to the Cleveland Park Library to reunite with their families.

Kevin Conway was among the parents of Edmund Burke students waiting at the Cleveland Park Library. His ninth-grade daughter was leaving school with her ultimate Frisbee team when she heard gunshots; the group took shelter in the nearby Levine Music school, Conway says.

Though his daughter called right away and has kept her family updated, she’s “certainly anxious,” Conway told DCist/WAMU at the Cleveland Park Library. “We can’t wait to see her.”

Contee said at 9:30 p.m. that all students had been reunited with their families.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, who was at the press conference, thanked first responders and lamented the continued gun violence in the District.

“I had to look in parents’ eyes tonight who are terrified, and they were terrified thinking of what might happen to their children,” Bowser said at the 7:30 p.m. press conference. “We have experienced this too much in our country. … The epidemic of gun violence, the easy access to weapons has got to stop. People should not be scared taking their children to school.”

In nearby Cleveland Park, restaurant Medium Rare tweeted that they would offer a free dinner to anyone who was not able to return to their home because of the investigation and lockdown.

It has been an active night for police in the District. Another shooting with three victims took place in Brightwood, in addition to another shooting in Takoma and someone attempting self-immolation at the Supreme Court.

This post has been updated throughout with additional information about the investigation.