Hours before Metro’s Board of Directors held a meeting Thursday morning, two Metro employees were killed in what police are investigating as a murder-suicide.
D.C. police said officers responded to the 5200 block of 44th Street NW around 1 a.m. Thursday for a report of a shooting.
The early investigation, police said, showed that Terrell Cross of Bethesda, Maryland, arrived at the location — blocks away from the Friendship Heights Metro station in Northwest Washington and just steps from Metro’s Western Bus Garage — and shot Robert Stokes of Middle River, Maryland. Cross then shot himself, police said.
When officers arrived, both men, who were in their early 40s, were unconscious and had gunshot wounds. D.C. Fire and EMS attempted to render aid, police said, but the men were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police found a gun and believe the shooting was a “domestic related incident,” according to a news release.
At the meeting, Metro CEO and General Manager Randy Clarke said that the incident did not happen on Metro property and that there is “no ongoing threat to either Metro employees or our system.”
“Our staff is the soul of this organization, and [I] just very much appreciate what they do every day,” Clarke said, before asking for a moment of silence.
The Transit Employees’ Health and Welfare Plan — a governmental health plan for unionized Metro employees and their families — said in a statement that it is “mobilizing immediate support services” to its members. Jayme Johnson, Metro’s chief safety and readiness officer, said at the meeting that the transit authority would offer counseling to employees and family members.
“We work to ensure our staff are ready to perform safely and, just as importantly, they are supported when they are not ready,” Johnson said.
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