2 Shot at NE Vocational School
Officer Hurt in Chase Before Student Arrested, Police Say

By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

An auto mechanics student dressed in a black business suit and fedora walked into his vocational school and opened fire yesterday, hitting two people, and then led D.C. police on a wild chase across Capitol Hill before he was arrested, authorities said.

The gunman, identified by police as Wesley Johnson, 27, of Fort Washington, has been studying auto mechanics at the school for about two months, carjacked two vehicles, raced through streets and left three people injured before he was arrested in Southeast Washington. The victims, including two with gunshot wounds and one with traffic-related injuries, are expected to survive.

The incident began about 2 p.m. at the Excel Institute, a Northeast school founded by a former Redskins player that trains troubled youths and adults to become auto mechanics, police said. He is likely to appear today in D.C. Superior Court.

Witnesses watched the scene unfold in disbelief: The man, carrying at least two guns, fired into a crowd of people, seemingly with no intended target. People ran and screamed to get out of his way. One of his guns jammed several times before a bullet grazed the face of the school's chief operating officer, Henry Schultz.

The gunman walked through the lobby and met the eyes of the man who recruited him and with whom he met regularly for career advice. "He walked past me with a gun in each hand and said, 'I'm going to handle some business,' " said Erik Steed.

Steed said the man was usually mild-mannered and upbeat. "If I had to pick someone at this school for doing something like this, it wouldn't be him," he said.

After passing Steed, the gunman went outside and fired into a crowd, hitting the shoulder of a woman who was there to sign her son up for classes, said Lanier Cooper, 27, a student who watched the shooting.

"After he shot the woman, he walked up to us. He had this eerie look on his face. And I looked at his clothes; he never came to class dressed like that," Cooper said. "He asked us if we saw anything, and we all said 'No.' Then he walked away."

Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier described the gunman as "extremely agitated" when he went into the school in the 2800 block of V Street NE. The shooting took place in an area that has been plagued by recent violence, and three officers on special assignments in response to the crime spurt helped make the arrest.

The first carjacking took place at V Street and Bladensburg Road NE, police said, just over a block from the school. Two officers chased the vehicle to 12th and C streets NE, where the suspect bailed out of that vehicle and commandeered another -- a Terminix pest control sedan.

The chase continued to the 300 block of 19th Street SE, where another officer blocked the suspect's path, police said. The man slammed into the police car, injuring an officer, and was quickly arrested when he tried to bail out.

There was gunfire along the way as the chase unfolded along the commercial strip of Bladensburg Road and past parks filled with children on Capitol Hill. "This person was actually firing on officers," said D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5). "This could have been a far worse scene."

At the school, there was horror and fear, but also relief that it hadn't turned out worse.

"God was very much here today," said Curtis Hochtman, the lead instructor.

The Excel Institute is a nonprofit organization co-founded a decade ago by former Redskins star George Starke and parking magnate John Lyon. About 100 students are enrolled there.

In the hallway, GED instructor Carmelita Winters was hugging staff members, saying she still could not believe what had happened. The gunman was "one of my top-of-the-line students, all his assignments in on time, no problems at all."

Starke arrived to assure everyone that the school would survive the incident. "We've had 10 years here without even a fistfight. We'll be back at school tomorrow. There are about 100 more students here who want to keep learning."

The trouble broke out as city leaders were having a news conference outside police headquarters to tout recent arrests. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Lanier were among those announcing the bust of a drug crew that allegedly was operating out of Langston Terrace in Northeast. Lanier raced from that event to the scene of the shooting when her assistant made the sign for a gun with one hand and mouthed "shooting" to her, she said.

The drug bust followed an 11-month probe. Officials said they confiscated one gun and $14,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine. No one was charged with a violent crime. But Lanier and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor said the amount confiscated is not the point.

"We will eliminate this drug trafficking issue for Langston Terrace," he said.

Staff writer Robert E. Pierre contributed to this report.