Shooter Had Big Plan, Say Officials
Massacre Was Goal At Tech School, Authorities Allege

By Allison Klein and Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 1, 2008

D.C. police think the man who shot and wounded two people Tuesday at a technical school had a grander plan to commit mass murder and possibly die in a fiery shootout with police, law enforcement sources said yesterday.

Police searched Wesley Johnson's Fort Washington home and found three rambling suicide notes to family members written on paper towels and dated Tuesday: "You thought I was bluffing. Now you know it's judgment day," said one note in part, according to two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Writing was scrawled on his bedroom walls, sources said. On one was the threat: "I'm going to throw rocks and no one will take me down."

Johnson had seemed discouraged and morose earlier in the day, said Cheryll Smalls, a neighbor who had a long talk with Johnson on a bus into the city Tuesday morning, a few hours before the incident.

"He kept saying how tired he was. Tired of it all," she said. "He just wasn't himself."

At his arraignment yesterday in D.C. Superior Court, Johnson pleaded not guilty to assault with intent to kill while armed. Public defender Brandi Harden argued unsuccessfully that the charge be lessened to assault with a deadly weapon. She said there was no proof he intended to kill anyone.

According to court documents, Johnson, 27, works part time at Nationals Park and is a full-time lifeguard at Winkler Pool Management in Prince George's County. The documents say he has seizures.

He was an auto mechanics student at the Excel Institute, where he also was taking a life skills class that had segments on anger management and conflict resolution, school officials said yesterday. Every student has to take the life skills class.

Excel teachers said Johnson, who had been at the school about a month, had always seemed mild-mannered and polite.

"He was cordial one day and snapped the next," said Curtis Hochtman, lead instructor at the school, in the 2800 block of V Street NE.

The Excel Institute canceled classes yesterday to give students time "to reflect on what happened," said Shana Heilbron, a spokeswoman for the school.

Excel is a nonprofit organization largely funded by the city. It was co-founded by former Redskins star George Starke and parking magnate John Lyon. About 100 students are enrolled.

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.