Shooter Had Big Plan, Say Officials

Johnson, who had been doing well in his class, walked into the school about 2 p.m. carrying two guns and wearing a black business suit and a fedora with a black-and-red feather. He stopped outside the faculty lounge and shot at the school's chief operating officer, Henry Schultz, grazing him in the face, police said.

He aimed his gun at another staff member and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed, according to charging papers filed in D.C. Superior Court.

Then he walked outside and asked a woman whether she had "seen anything," police said. When the woman, who runs a nonprofit organization in Montgomery County, said she had, Johnson shot her in the shoulder, according to a police report.

Johnson carjacked two vehicles and led police on a high-speed chase through Northeast Washington and Capitol Hill, shooting at officers but hitting no one, police said. He eventually slammed into a police car trying to block his escape, injuring an officer, and was arrested when he tried to flee, police said.

Smalls, who lives two doors down from the rowhouse where Johnson lived with his mother, was among the last to speak with Johnson at any length before the shooting.

The two sat together on a 45-minute bus trip into the District on Tuesday morning.

They had a long, wandering conversation that has haunted her since she arrived home from her doctor's visit hours later, when she found dozens of police officers combing Johnson's home, she said.

"He talked about God. We talked about God," she recalled. "And then he kept talking about the children, and how it's not the children's fault, and not their fault that they're disrespectful."

At one point, Smalls said, Johnson turned to her and asked, "Why don't you love me anymore?"

"What are you talking about, baby?" she said she replied. "I still love you."

After that, Johnson, who was wearing headphones, turned away and stared off as if in a trance, she said. He clutched a leather briefcase the whole trip. "He never, ever put down that bag down," she said.

Smalls said she can't stop thinking about that detail. "I thought it was his books, but now I can only imagine."

Staff writer Keith L. Alexander and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.