Officers fatally shot a man onboard a Metrobus on Tuesday morning, blocks away from where he allegedly shot and killed a woman in Northwest D.C., interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said.
The man, 44-year-old Shawn Williams, is believed to have shot the woman, 44-year-old Melissa Wallace-Pulliam, in the 3600 block of Wisconsin Avenue, NW, just after 7 a.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Carroll said the woman was involved in a “prior domestic relationship” with the suspect.
Following the shooting, police said the suspect boarded a northbound Metrobus on Porter Street, Northwest.
Several people witnessed the shooting and told police what the suspect looked like, Carroll said, as well as which bus he was on.
D.C. police officers followed that bus and pulled it over a few blocks down the road, at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, NW, and Upton Street, NW, moments later, Carroll said.
Officers were evacuating passengers when they confronted the suspect and he reportedly reached into his bag and pulled a gun out.
Carroll said officers repeatedly told him to stop reaching into his bag, but opened fire when he pointed the gun in their direction. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
A handful of riders were still on the bus when the male suspect was shot and killed.
He had been arrested in D.C. before, including for domestic-related incidents between the suspect and the woman, according to the interim police chief. Carroll said the suspect had a “prior domestic relationship” with the woman, but exactly how the two knew each other was not immediately clear.
“We’ve had multiple high-profile domestic violence incidents here in the second district,” Carroll said. “This is the second domestic homicide that we’ve had this year involving individuals.”
