2 men shot, killed on DC university campuses 8 days apart

WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Police are investigating after a man was shot and killed on Howard University’s campus on Thursday morning.

Police have identified the victim as 34-year-old Rafael Gomez.

According to officials, Gomez arrived on campus around 6 a.m. for a construction job. That’s when a group of at least three people jumped out of a car and attempted to rob him. Gomez was shot and killed during the attack, and the group drove off in a white Nissan SUV.

“It’s shocking to me but at the same time it reminds me, often times, these things happen in the moments and [at] places you least expect it,” C. Zawadi Morris, who is part of the fellowship program at Howard, said. “This is normally a very quiet and peaceful campus.”

The homicide is the second of its kind on a D.C. university campus in the last eight days.

Last Wednesday, 25-year-old Maxwell Emerson — a teacher in town from Kentucky — was shot and killed on Catholic University’s campus.

Jaime Maceo, 22, has been arrested and charged for the crime.

According to court documents, Maceo engaged with Emerson over a roughly half hour period.

Surveillance footage shows the two men walking down Michigan Avenue. Detectives believe Emerson can be seen at least twice with his hands up in what they believe is a “don’t shoot manner.” Maceo can be seen what police believe is a gun. They also believe Emerson tried to alert family member via Snapchat that he was being robbed at gunpoint.  

“Maybe the targets are looking at places where people are least expecting to be assaulted,” said Morris. “We just have to be on our guards. This morning I got up and went running at 6 a.m. I felt that was probably safe but now it’s making me think twice about what’s safe.”

“I’d just say it would make me not want to walk around with headphones on for one,” said Howard freshman Johnathan Slack.

Slack said he was at football practice around the time of the shooting.

“Things that happen around here in the community, the football team is just trying to look past it and focus on football,” he said, explaining this crime is even more reason to stay alert and focused on the game. “I just want to take whichever route is a safe route to practice.”

Both Howard and Catholic universities have public safety departments.

Howard has both armed and unarmed officers. According to the university, Howard officers were the first to arrive to the scene Thursday morning and rendered aid to Gomez.

The Metropolitan Police Department is offering a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest in this case.