Lone Gunman Blamed for D.C. Shooting Spree

District of Columbia police said Monday they now believe a single gunman is responsible for all the drive-by shotgun shootings that have frightened Northwest Washington residents in recent weeks.

Two people have been killed and four wounded in the attacks since Feb. 23. Two others were shot at but escaped injury, and one target eluded the gunman before he could fire.

“We’re working on the theory that it’s one guy, but we can’t be absolutely sure,” said a detective involved in the case. The description of the gunman is very similar from victim to victim, he said. The basic pattern of attack also is the same: A car cruises down a street at night in the Columbia Heights or Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods, a shotgun is pointed out the window and a shot is fired at the head of an isolated pedestrian.

Investigators said, however, that they are dealing with differing accounts on what type of car the gunman drove, whether he acted alone and how he approached his nine targets.

The differences have appeared over time in the specific accounts of the gunman’s actions.

In the first five attacks, the gunman was stealthily predatory, according to victims and police. Operating in the darkness of night, he would wait for his victims in a parked car, or drive up behind them on a deserted street, where he would open fire with a pump-action shotgun before speeding away.

But in the last four attacks, witnesses said, the gunman was much more conspicuous. One police official described him as “downright cocky.” In the sixth attack, on April 4, the gunman flirted with his 32-year-old victim. In a recent interview with the Washington Post, she said he asked her, “ ‘How ya doin’?’ ” before saying, “April fools” and opening fire, hitting the woman once in the right arm.

Then, just after midnight last Saturday, the gunman targeted three people, chasing two, then returning to shoot and kill a man. The attacks occurred just 30 minutes after extra police patrols had finished their shifts.