More Details On DC Sniper Released; Police Unit Targeting Violent Crime Formed

WASHINGTON, DC — Days after multiple violent gun crimes — including a sniper who wounded four people while firing more than 200 rounds from a DC apartment and had thousands more rounds of ammunition left — Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the formation of the Violent Crime Impact Team.

The team is a joint effort between District law enforcement and its federal partners to remove illegal firearms from the city and arrest armed criminals, the mayor said.

“We cannot allow people to terrorize our communities with guns,” Bowser said, in a release. “This is about using a whole-of-government approach, but it’s also about focusing our attention and resources on exactly where we know the problem is. Our message is clear — we will continue to offer people in our city a better path forward, but if people choose to engage in violence, then they will be held accountable.”

VCIT officers will partner with tactical and investigative components of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Agency, in a proactive effort to remove illegal firearms and violent offenders from the District's streets.

“The creation of the Violent Crime Impact Team is yet another example of MPD and our federal partners’ commitment to rid our city of illegal firearms and criminals who choose to commit senseless acts of violence in our community,” said Chief Robert J. Contee III, of the Metropolitan Police Department, in a release. “We know, that law enforcement partnerships, intelligence-led policing and proactive collaboration lead to better outcomes. Enough is enough. Together with our law enforcement partners, we are invested and continue to make DC the safest city in the nation, and we will use every resource available to do so.”

The mayor's announcement came days after multiple violent incidents involving firearms swept through the city, including a sniper injuring four people after firing more than 200 rounds from a Van Ness apartment building and a triple shooting on Friday evening in the 600 block of Kennedy Street, Northwest that injured two men and one women.

RELATED: D.C. Shooting On Connecticut Ave.: Suspect Fired More Than 100 Rounds

During a Monday afternoon news conference, Contee provided updates on Robert Spencer, the man police identified as the Van Ness sniper.

Spencer shot and killed himself on Friday as police forced their way into his apartment in the AVA Van Ness building. He had used some type of appliance, possibly a refrigerator, to barricade the door.

Police recovered four long guns and two handguns from the apartment on Friday. In addition, three rifles were recovered from Spencer's apartment in Fairfax County, Virginia.

"We know that an excess of over 200 rounds were fired from the sniper from the apartment on Van Ness Street. We know that he had in excess of over 800 unshot rounds at his disposal inside of the location at Van Ness," said Contee, adding that thousands of additional rounds were found in Spencer's Fairfax County apartment.

Surveillance footage showed Spencer rolling a suitcase into the AVA Apartments in Van Ness, sometime around midnight on Thursday.

At the time of Friday's shooting, Spencer had only been at the Van Ness apartment for a few months, having just moved there in January.

Police are still investigating what if any connection Spencer may have had with the Edmund Burke School, where the four victims were located at the time of the shootings.

"We're looking at what he did immediately before this," Contee said. "We know that five hours before the shooting he went to the Giant on Connecticut Avenue and he purchased two Stouffer's meals. He took those meals to his apartment prior to the shooting taking place."

Related: Woman In Special Police Officer's Uniform Shot By Metro Cops: Report

Spencer attended Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, and served for a brief time in the U.S. Coast Guard in 2017. Police are unsure of why Spencer left the Coast Guard after a few months, but they do know he moved into his Fairfax County apartment in February 2021.

Contee told reporters that on Friday night he had visited the neighborhood on Kennedy Street where the triple shooting had occurred.

"Some of the things that I heard were very disturbing to me when it comes to just the reckless regard to some people in community have for law-abiding citizens," he said. "And I think that that is something that we all can focus on. That is a space where we all can participate, regardless of what your area of discipline is in this ecosystem. We all have a responsibility in this space to make sure that we're doing the things that we need to do to hold violent criminals accountable."

Minus the six guns recovered from the sniper, D.C. police recovered 40 illegal firearms over the weekend in the District.

"That number alone should make every person in this room cringe," he said. "Forty illegal firearms, and I assure you that this is as a result of hard work by officers going to get those firearms because surely nobody just walked up in here."

D.C. police officers responding to the report of an armed woman shooting another woman Saturday morning in the 800 block of Crittenden Street, Northwest, fatally shot a woman who was not registered as a special police officer. The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave, which is a routine action, according to police.