Washington shooting: Five people shot in DC, including 1 killed at a gym, before suspect kills himself

Five people were shot, one fatally, on Thursday in a Washington, DC, neighbourhood within walking distance of the White House, police said, and the suspected gunman later shot and killed himself as a swarm of officers responded to a nearby apartment building where he was barricaded.

One victim died in the initial shooting, said Jeffery Carroll, interim chief with the Metropolitan Police Department.

Carroll said the suspect then shot himself while barricaded inside an apartment. He added that the man apparently had a dispute with the building’s homeowners association.

The suspect’s death was confirmed by a law enforcement official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation into what happened and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

The shootings were reported in Logan Circle, about a mile north of the White House. Much of the block on 15th Street was cordoned off as police urged people to avoid the area, which includes a VIDA fitness center, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, residences and a Whole Foods supermarket. Schools were on lockdown.

Law enforcement SWAT teams and other officers had their guns drawn on the roof of an apartment building or on the ground below.

Authorities believe the suspect shot at least one person inside the gym before going outside and firing again, according to another law enforcement official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

Law enforcement agents believe the suspect shot another person in a parking garage elevator before barricading himself on the seventh floor of the building, the official said.

Witness James Spellman, who was at the gym, said there were about 50 people there around 8am when the shooting began.

“Within seconds there was a man who fell to the ground, and a pool of blood came out,” he said. “One gym member rushed to help him. He was instantly dead. He had been shot in the neck.”

Spellman said he and others dashed out of the gym. He said he heard about two shots fired in the gym and about five or six fired outside.

Another witness, Ryan Dubicki, said he was in his nearby apartment around the same time when he “heard about five bangs.”

“They were really spread out so I thought it was construction,” he said. A short time later “there were cops everywhere.”

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it sent agents to the scene to help. And the FBI said its Washington field office was helping local police with the investigation.

The neighborhood has seen violence before. In early August 2025, a onetime member of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted early on a Sunday morning in the Logan Circle neighborhood by a group of teenagers attempting to carjack him and a woman, authorities said.

Days later, Trump fulfilled his threat to bypass local authority and imposed direct federal control over the city, sending in hundreds of National Guard members to reduce crime. That deployment continues today.