Murder Targeted Homeless in NYC and D.C. May Be On ‘Adventures He Can’t Stop’, Experts Warn

Local and federal authorities ramped up searches Monday for an alleged mass shooter who killed at least two sleeping homeless men and wounded three others in series of shootings in New York City and Washington DC.

But while questions continue to surround the suspect involved in those crimes, experts gathered by The Daily Beast believe the individual is a serial killer who may be in a The quest-style “adventure” will only be stopped by his fear.

“This killer is giving him a flood of emotions right now, he’s very hard to spot even with the investigation going on,” said Dr. Scott Bonn, criminologist and author fake of the book”Why we love serial killers,” told The Daily Beast on Monday. “In some ways, going public and investigating multiple cities can feed his ego and push him further. It depends on his emotional needs. But I can tell that it looks like he is escalating because of the shorter and shorter time frames between kills. He will move on, and on pretty quickly. ”

During Monday’s joint news conference in DC on Monday night, where new photos of the shooter were first released, Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York City Mayor Eric Adams called for help. from the public to identify the individual involved in the five shootings, noting that the reward for any information is now $70,000. Bowser also noted that officials are asking anyone experiencing homelessness in the two hub cities to “seek shelter.”

“Homelessness shouldn’t be a murder. This is a cold-blooded attack,” Adams said. We need help from the public. Someone knows this person. We don’t want to lose another citizen in this city, in New York or anywhere else. This person is carrying out a predetermined attack to shoot innocent people. “

Police in New York and Washington DC say the chilling crimes began on March 3, when Metropolitan Police Department answered a 4 a.m. call about a homeless man with a non-life threatening gunshot wound. Five days later, on March 8, another individual was shot but not killed.

The next day, a similar attack was fatal.

“The first two shootings were non-fatal, but I think this suspect always had intent to kill on the basis of his victimization,” said Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD detective sergeant major and now a professor at the University of California. John Jay Justice College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, told The Daily Beast. “The same MOs also point to the opinion that this is a mission type serial killer because it looks like this is someone trying to rid the world of something he considers problematic. subject. In this case, we know he is targeting homeless individuals.”

Police say that on March 9, responders discovered a body inside a burning tent in D.C. After extinguishing the fire, investigators discovered that this person, formerly was homeless, had been shot and stabbed.

“From the information the police have released, it appears that at some point after this March 9 incident, the suspect went to New York City, where he shot other homeless people,” he said. Giacalone said. “Obviously we don’t know yet if he shot anyone on his way to New York, but investigators will also look at other major cities along the way, like Baltimore and Philadelphia.”

The first shooting in New York was reported on March 12, when a 39-year-old man was shot while he was sleeping in Tribeca. NYPD Deputy Director Hank Sautner said at a news conference Saturday that during the incident, the victim woke up to being shot and asked, “What are you doing?”, prompting the suspect to flee. The victim who was shot in the arm is being treated at a local hospital.

Shortly after the first attack, police said the alleged serial killer struck again in Chinatown, where he fatally shot a man inside his sleeping bag. The victim was found hours later, with gunshot wounds to the head and neck.

But despite the number of victims affected by this individual, authorities have provided few details about the intentions of the crime, or any information about the individual beyond surveillance footage. recorded him wearing black and approaching a sleeping man on the sidewalk. On Monday, DC Sheriff Robert Contee II reviewed five shootings, saying the evidence shows “we have a pervert who is targeting our unauthorized residents.”

Contee added that DC connected the dots after the department’s head of homicide division viewed images of a murder in NYC and realized it was the same individual during their investigation. He added that “the knot is being tightened” on the suspect and that both law enforcement agencies will find the suspect.

“We really need to close this case before anyone gets hurt or killed by this person. We don’t know the mental health of this person,” the DC chief added. “We don’t know if this person is homeless. We don’t know a lot of things.”

For Giacalone and Bonn, the lack of public information surrounding the investigation is not unusual – past cases provide a glimpse into the motives behind mass murders.

Based on the sheer number of victims involved in the case, Bonn said he would classify the individual as a “disgusting killer” because unlike other serial killers “there was a period cool… this guy shot five people in a little over a week. He didn’t take down.”

“Serial killers are not one size fits all,” says Bonn. “Every person has a need, an imaginary need, filled with killing. Being a sophisticated killer, he also fits the category thriller killer — or the one driven by the excitement of murder. ”

Bonn, however, says that this individual is more likely to be a killer on a mission who is “riding on to society what he considers a failure. He may also feel inside himself as a failure or a failure in society and is attacking those he believes to be the embodiment of his own downfall. In this case, the victims may mean something to him so he is targeting them directly.”

Giacalone agrees with the evangelical murder analysis, noting that homelessness “has been in the headlines for the past few months — NYC specifically — so this guy might think he’s the guy. doing something that benefits anyone.”

“Shooting homeless people — defenseless people sleeping — is also a sign,” the former NYPD detective added. “Also, the fact that he was able to evade law enforcement in DC and get to NYC is also an indication of how fast he is moving and how likely he is to know that he is on target. target individuals that the police will not immediately detect.”

He also added that authorities may know more about the suspect than they have released to the public – especially since he has to travel around the states.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference Monday that there was a “seamless exchange of information” between her department and DC — as well as other nearby police departments because the suspect was mobile. . Contee also noted on Monday that authorities were not sure how the suspect was able to move – or where he actually lived – but that he was “capable of moving within cities”.

“There are hotel records, fee collection records. If I were to join this investigation, I would create areas around the crime scene and show pictures of this suspect to hotels and other local establishments to see if anyone knew anything. Cameras also play a huge role here, and NYPD and DC are among the best companies to tackle this case.”

However, Bonn stressed that these investigators must work quickly to apprehend the gunman, who he said was “on an adventure he may not have been able to stop on his own”.

“He was jumping from city to city as part of his murderous adventure,” the criminologist added. “We don’t know the emotional need that is being met by these murders, but based on the manner of his murder, we do know that he is at an emotional high right now and I think he will continue unless someone prevents it.”