Classmate said

When Allison, a 22-year-old student at the University of the District of Columbia, decided to stay home on Friday, she felt lucky that she missed the nearby sniper-style shooting that took place that afternoon.

Then, when she saw a photo of the suspected gunman on TV and realized they were in middle school together, she screamed.

“Thank God, I wasn’t there yesterday — I was supposed to be there for a ceremony, but I decided not to,” Allison told The Daily Beast on Saturday. “It’s weird that my old classmates actually shot in, or near my university… It was horrible, because all my mentors were there, my lab colleagues, my friends. I. And it’s hard not to be angry about it, because in a matter of minutes he could have destroyed some of the best things in my life.”

Raymond Spencer, 23, was named a suspect by DC Metro Police in the attack yesterday afternoon, and died by suicide when police arrived. He allegedly fired dozens of shots from the window of his 5th-floor apartment in Northwest DC, near associated buildings and housing complexes. with UDC, Howard University, and Edmund Burke Preparatory School, injuring 3 adults and a 12-year-old girl. Police Chief Robert Contee III said at a news conference, officers discovered Spencer’s body lying on the floor of his bathroom hours after the shooting began, dead from a gunshot wound. cause.

“His intention was to kill and hurt members of our community,” Contee said. “Looks like this person is just shooting at anyone random out there.”

Spencer filmed the attack and posted the horrifying footage online. He left behind a digital link that investigators later found, which included posts on the 4chan message board that said, among other things, “God, please forgive me.” Spencer also edited Edmund Burke’s Wikipedia page after the horrific incident, writing, “A gunman opened fire on a school on April 22, 2022. Suspect still big.” The revised entry is linked to a profile named Spencer, in which he is described as “proudly uncircumcised” and an “AR-15 maniac”.

Allison, who asked not to use her real name in this article, is still trying to figure out what happened, describing Spencer as “the prettiest kid in our class.” Allison said he has an older brother in the upper class and a younger brother in the lower grade.

“I just wanted to release this information because it felt like no one else had made it,” she said. “And that was really weird, because he didn’t seem like a loner… He was the last person I would expect to do something like this. He is the quietest kid. He doesn’t really talk much. But he always smiles when you talk to him. Like, this isn’t someone I knew 10 years ago. ”

Allison knew Spencer for three years, from 6th to 8th grade. They attended the same Catholic school in Rockville, Maryland, where she said was “known for being tough in discipline, but also doing really well. ” According to Allison, student composition is very diverse because tuition fees are more reasonable compared to other schools in the area.

“And they caught a lot of students who might have problems in public schools, like they might be bullied, or they might [a learning disability],’ she said. worried about me being bullied in public school. I was a shy kid. And there were a lot of kids like that.”

Spencer was the shortest kid in her class, standing face to face with Allison, who said she was five feet tall at the time. She said he easily made friends with other people at school, which was small enough that “everyone knew each other”. However, Allison said Spencer “didn’t really get along with people,” even though he didn’t show any violent tendencies and “there’s nothing really outstanding about him.”

After 8th grade, Spencer transferred to a public high school, where he ran cross country. The next time Allison saw him, he was named on TV as a suspect in a mass shooting.

In a photograph of Spencer’s apartment released by Metro PD, a mural depicting Yakub, a mythical black scientist written about the founder of the Nation of Islam Elijah Muhammad, has now been impeached. mocked becoming an anti-Black meme by 4chan netizens.

Allison says she’s not sure if Spencer gets caught up in one of these “different movements, [like] incel stuff,” but added, “I don’t think it’s really that deep. ”

“I’m pretty sure he wanted to kill himself, but he was afraid of not being remembered,” she said. “So he appealed to these internet movements because he knew that people would continue to make conspiracies about his life, as if it were a thing or two. The truth is terrifyingly simple. ”

Spencer’s actions were “really cynical,” said Allison, noting that she understood “he did something really evil.”

“But it doesn’t help demonizing people,” she said, sobbing quietly. “Because it came from somewhere. And as long as we don’t try to understand others, this kind of thing will continue to happen in this country. “