Witnesses describe panic after morning shooting at VIDA Fitness in DC

Yeah, I do think we have another witness on the phone, Mary Ellen, who joins us now. And Mary Ellen, tell us where you were, what you experienced and heard or may have seen while you were there in that area of Logan Circle. Corner of Q and 15th, so just about really a block up from the Vita Fitness. And we walked out of the house about, I don't know, 8-ish. to take our dogs on a walk and we heard the fire alarm going off but we hear those from time to time so we didn't think much of it we just you know whatever like kind of went along our way towards our street we went the opposite direction with the dogs and we were I don't know maybe just a couple minutes into the walk And all of a sudden we heard this bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, like that. I mean, it was crazy. It was obvious it was gunshots. We looked at each other like, oh my God, that was gunshots. And then we see all of these other people who had been out walking their dogs come running by us from the Vita Fitness direction. And we asked them where did it happen? They said I said in front of Vita. And so we all went running down 14th again towards our street in that direction. And my husband and I just ducked into the hardware store over there, Logan Hardware, and just stayed in there for a little while. To kind of just calm down a little bit and feel like we're taking some kind of cover. And then we heard all of the police and emergency vehicles going to the scene. And after a while, we left the hardware store and walked back to our house again on the corner of 15th and Q. And that's where command is like set up right now, right in front of our house. So we are just looking out and seeing everything going on. It's a little crazy. Wow. So when you saw all of this happening, what was your emotion like when you were watching this all unfolded? I mean, obviously a very busy area. It's not uncommon for police to sometimes be going through downtown D.C., parts of D.C., but not something of this presence of this nature and such a massive response. So what was your initial emotion, your initial thought? Well, I mean, freaking out. We were freaking, well, I can speak for myself. My husband's here too. I was freaking out because we don't normally have situations like this. We don't normally hear gunshots. So we were initially freaking out. And then the presence, all of the police coming told us it was really something major, was really major was going on. I mean, we could smell the smoke from the gunshots. Like, so it was, Shocking, I mean, we're very shocked, very worried to even walk back home from the hardware store. But But I don't know, we decided, get home, that's the safest place to be. And I think he's gonna save them. And if you don't mind, this is Brad, Mary Ellen's husband. From my immediate thought was, we didn't know what was going on, but in certain Incidents where a suspect flees, they sometimes tend to go somewhere. It sounds like he went into the Metropole Condominiums above Vida Fitness at Logan Circle. But they could flee, they could be in an alley, they could be in somebody's backyard, they could be anywhere. And sometimes it's hard. So my primary objective is like get my family away and not because the closer we get to a house, we might run into the suspect along the way. They could be hiding behind trash cans or in an alley. So. We opted to go further away. Mary Ellen, Brad, I had a quick question for you. I know you said your house or your home is right in front of where this police presence is. Do you all have a ring camera or anything that would be able to see what that police presence looks like from your area that you can access on your phone? Or even go back and to see if maybe the suspect may have crossed right in front of your home area? Yes, great question. We actually do. It's similar to a Ring camera. The police has asked us to go through that later, but right now they're asking us to be in the house. We have two cameras, a previous robbery in 2023, I believe, at the TD Bank. We provided We've provided that to authorities, and we were able to... Catch the suspect. We believe we're the suspects at that time, including audio, which was helpful for them to establish the suspects being tied together. Well, you know, we can help this time, too, as I was going to say, you never know if if something like that is able to help law enforcement again this time. Glad you guys are safe. Appreciate it. Stay safe, as with everybody in the neighborhood. And you're absolutely right. I mean, it's great advice. It's scary for the whole neighborhood, not just for the immediate area where it happens. Thank you both for joining us this morning. Thank you, Don. Appreciate it.