Dramatic details emerge about how bystanders stopped gunman at D.C. subway stop
The man who killed a transit worker and injured multiple people in a Washington, D.C. subway station spoke threateningly to his victims, charging documents reveal. Multiple bystanders were integral in disarming the alleged attacker, the documents said.
Isaiah Trotman, 31, was arrested on charges of first-degree murder while armed, kidnapping while armed and assault with a dangerous weapon after the shooting spree on Feb. 1, police said.
Police said in a press conference on that day that Trotman was riding a bus and "brandishing" a weapon while "engaging" with other passengers. According to the charging document, Trotman told one passenger, "Look at me in the face, I'm a prophet. You're going to die with me today."
Trotman then shot and wounded that passenger, then got off the bus and went into the Potomac Avenue Metro station, where he shot and wounded a person buying fare. He then went down to the subway platform, where he confronted a woman and ordered her to get off her phone.
According to the charging documents, Trotman said, "I am God," and told the woman not to "bat (her) pretty eyelashes" at him. He then pointed his gun at her foot.
During that interaction, Metro employee Robert Cunningham, an 64-year-old mechanic, intervened. According to a witness, Cunningham tried to disarm Trotman, but was shot at close range and died at the scene. All other injured parties were stable.
The same witness said that Trotman then said "I'm a killer, and this is what I do," then stomped on Cunningham's chest. CCTV footage shows that Trotman kicked or stomped Cunningham at least three times, according to the charging documents.
Trotman then boarded a train, still holding his weapon. According to another witness on the train, Trotman said "don't leave, don't run" and asked a passenger "Where do you think you're going?" when the man stood up. Trotman continued to make erratic statements, according to charging documents, and finally sat down in a seat with his gun next to him.
A passenger, identified in charging documents as V-4, grabbed the gun and attempted to run off the train with it. Trotman tackled V-4, documents say, but another person pulled him off, allowing V-4 to get the gun again and run off the train. He hurled it across the platform, where it landed on another set of train tracks.
Trotman left the train and went onto those tracks. CCTV footage shows him briefly searching for the gun before leaving the tracks and approaching the escalators, where he was stopped by officers from the Metropolitan Police Department.
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