Crime: Metro Shootings, Suspicious Vehicle on M Street
By • December 12, 2022 0 1997
With more holiday shoppers riding Washington, D.C.’s Metrorail system in recent days, a spate of Metro shootings this past week has alarmed riders, residents, visitors, police and the broader public.
Yesterday, Metro Transit Police released dramatic footage of Metro Center crowds witnessing what appeared to be a deadly shooting by an off-duty FBI agent against an aggressor following a scuffle between the two around 6 p.m. and an 8-foot fall of the entwined fighters from the platform. “From two angles, two men can be seen shoving one another before they fall over the railing,” NBC 4 reported. “About 16 seconds after they fell, the off-duty agent shot and killed the man, 28-year-old Troy Bullock,” the news report said. The unidentified FBI agent “suffered non-life threatening injuries and no one else at the station was injured, according to the police report. The video can be seen here.
The shooting followed another at Metro Center the evening before, on Dec. 7. “I was on the train when we just saw people running for their lives at Metro Center… I started screaming “everyone get down!” and our entire car hit the ground. I’m still shaking like a leaf!!” wrote Lisa Mae Crawford on Twitter in response to NBC 4’s post about the shooting. “One person has been shot at the Metro Center station, suspending train service on the Red Line from Farragut North to Gallery Place,” the station posted.
Were it not for the courageous response of a rail operator who skipped the station as the crisis unfolded, more might have been injured. “We commend the heroic actions of our rail operator who saw an incident unfolding at Metro Center… Her decision to bypass the station kept many customers safe,” wrote the Metro Transit Police on Twitter.
“It was like a zombie movie,” Crawford said. “People were running for their lives.” She yelled “Everybody get down! Active shooter!” and was “screaming at the top of [her] lungs,” Crawford told NBC 4 Washington. A math teacher at a school near the White House, Crawford said an active shooter training video shown at work about a week ago gave her the strength to do it… “And then the train took off,” she said. “When the train got to Gallery Place, people started helping others get up and the train operator told everyone to get off the train,” Crawford said.
The next morning around 9 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 8, another D.C. Metro shooting took place at Benning Road Metro Station that injured three, one critically.
Meeting with reporters about the shooting, Metropolitan Police Commander Darnell Robinson said MPD officers arrived on scene and located “three individuals on” the platform “suffering from gunshot wounds.” A 15-year-old male had been shot in the thigh and was taken to the hospital, his condition listed as “critical.” While sitting on a Metro bench, a 34-year-old female was shot in the ankle and another 15-year-old juvenile male shot in the foot, both reported to be “non-life-threatening” injuries. The two did “not appear to be intended targets,” though the first young victim in critical condition appeared to be an intended victim.
“As of now… what we have is 3 suspects were engaged in a fight with the one victim – who’s in critical condition. They were involved in a fight on the platform. Out of the 3 suspects, one – unknown at this time – used a weapon and started firing multiple times,” Robinson said. Police believe given the time and setting of the shooting that the incident began with a fight between students commuting by Metro to school. On Dec. 9, a 16-year-old suspect in the case was arrested by Metro Transit Police, per a statement, and charged with attempted second-degree murder and carrying a pistol without a license.
According to Fox 5 News, the suspect “was wearing an ankle monitor at the time of his arrest. “Gun violence is tragic, infuriating, and unfortunately all-too-common in our society today, said Metro General Manager Randy Clarke. “Metro has an extensive network of surveillance… and the Metropolitan Transit Policy Authority has dramatically increased its presence… to keep customers safe,” Clarke said as he commended Transit Police officers on their work leading to the suspect’s arrest.
“I don’t think this is being political in any nature; We have a gun problem in America,” said Metro General Manager Randy Clarke on Thursday, Dec. 8, in response to the spate of Metro shootings. “That’s not Metro’s problem. We are impacted by that… I’m really tired of it… The biggest thing in this job is, what happens when you get a phone call when one of your employees or customers get killed.”
Clarke sought to reassure the public, however. “We are safe,” Clarke said. “If you look at the statistical probability of actually having an incident on Metro, it’s incredibly, incredibly small.”
In its latest Weekly Firearm Recovery Report for the week of Nov. 28 to Dec. 5, MPD reported 41 firearms taken off the streets. An alarming number of young offenders appear to be found in possession of illegal firearms in the District, however. A quick scrutiny of the report found that 11 of the 41 (17 percent) of the weapons holders were aged 21 or younger, with a 15-year-old listed as the youngest.
Meanwhile, in Georgetown this morning, Dec. 12, a “suspicious vehicle” response near 29th and M Streets NW by MPD shut down M Street for approximately one hour — from 27th to 30th Street along M and a few half blocks north and south. Pedestrian movement was also blocked in the same area. With attendees from the U.S-Africa Summit staying at the nearby Four Seasons Hotel, authorities were taking no chances.
