An employee of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was killed, and three other people were injured after a lone gunman opened fire at the Potomac Avenue Metro station in Washington on Wednesday morning.

According to Ashan Benedict, executive assistant chief of police for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, the shooting occurred at about 9 a.m. when the suspect was involved in an altercation on a Metrobus, Washington’s public bus system. After the bus stopped, the suspect followed the person they were arguing with and shot them, striking them in the leg.  The injured party was able to escape and be transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect then went to the Metro station and shot another person in the leg while they were trying to buy a pass for the train; they were also brought to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspect then got into an altercation with a woman, when a transit authority employee tried to de-escalate the situation and were shot and killed.  A second employee successfully stopping the shooting before some bystanders tackled the suspect, and law enforcement arrived on the scene. Said Benedict of the transit employee who was killed: “His heroism has to be recognized here today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family and the heroic actions he took here today. It’s unclear what the motive of all of this is.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said: “We don’t know a lot about this shooter at this moment other than we had a person with a gun who has created yet another tragedy in our city…. Whether it’s the Metro, it’s the street, it’s individual homes, we know that we have guns that are creating tragedies in our city and our nation and we all have to be very focused on tha… t I know that we will work hand in hand with Metro to make sure that our officers are working this investigation and being just as supportive as possible.”

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