D.C. police: Metro worker killed, 3 injured in shootings near Potomac Avenue station

D.C. police said a Metro worker was killed and three other people were wounded Wednesday morning in separate shootings in and near the Potomac Avenue station in Southeast.

Metropolitan Police Executive Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict said the suspect was in custody. The shooting was first reported around 9:20 a.m.

Chief Benedict said the suspect shot and killed a Metro employee when the worker tried to intervene in a confrontation between the gunman and a woman on the station platform. 

A group of riders wrestled the shooter to the ground and disarmed him before responding officers could arrive to arrest the suspect, police said.

“Due to the heroic actions of our citizens — our community — to disarm this shooter, I can’t put a price on that,” Chief Benedict said. “They saved lives. That’s to be commended. But the fact that our citizens have to intervene with armed gunmen is disturbing to me.”

Before fatally shooting the Metro worker, the suspect shot two people in the leg — one victim whom he followed off a Metrobus outside the station and another who was trying to buy a MetroCard in the station, police said. 

A third person suffered a hand fracture.

All three are in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“He’s walking around, brandishing a firearm and randomly engaging people in conversation,” Chief Benedict said. “He’s clearly agitated about something.”