Inside the race to find the gunman raining bullets on a D.C. school

511Van NessD.C.AVA VAN NESSA D.C. police officer working security at the school hears shots and takes cover by a pillar as he calls in an active shooter alertA security guardand two womenin vehicles areshot in the alleyEDMUND BURKE SCHOOLconnecticut ave. 511Van NessD.C.AVA VAN NESSA D.C. police officer working security at the school hears shots and takes cover by a pillar as he calls in an active shooter alertA security guard and two womenin vehicles are shot in the alleyEDMUND BURKE SCHOOLconnecticut ave. NWSources: D.C. police, Post reporting, Pictometry InternationalHANNAH DORMIDO/THE WASHINGTON POSTFrom his bedroom window where a tripod to balance a long-gun stood, Spencer could look straight down the alley 160 feet to Edmund Burke’s glass walkway, which students and staff call “The Bridge.”In the span of a few minutes, he showered at least 239 bullets through that window and a sliding screen door in the living room.He hit a 12-year-old girl in the glass walkway, a mother sitting in her SUV and a security guard helping Peterson. Inside the suitcase, police believe, were at least some of the firearms, ammunition and other supplies used in the attack.About 10 a.m., Spencer went to a Giant Food, and bought two frozen Stouffer’s dinners, meatloaf and lasagna, and returned to his apartment about a two-minute walk away on Van Ness Street near Connecticut Avenue.Though his apartment was sparsely furnished, police said he was well prepared for a mass shooting, with items that included mitts to protect his hands from weapons that heat up during continuous shooting and noise canceling headphones.At 3:18 p.m., a police lieutenant with news of Peterson’s alert burst into the office of D.C. Police Cmdr. Detectives went into the school to interview students and staff about potential threats, while officers began evacuating apartment buildings, including AVA Van Ness, worried the shooter might try to escape by blending in with evacuees.A person who lives in the area identified the AVA apartments as the source of gunfire.“We were able to use this information and identify and isolate a window,” Bedlion said.The Secret Service deployed members of its counter-sniper unit, a spokesman for the agency said, and two members pinpointed the shooter’s location to a corner apartment on the 5th floor.Authorities said the counter-snipers were on a rooftop across from the apartment building and could see the tripod in the open bedroom window but did not see a shooter. But they still weren’t sure what exact apartment he was in — 511 or the one next door.By then, police believe Spencer had hunkered down in his bathroom, a makeshift commander center where he had a baby monitor synced to a small camera placed at the base of a hallway door to track visitors, a keyboard in the sink, bullet clips on the counter and pillows piled in the tub.The Secret Service spokesman said the agency believes the counter-sniper’s efforts “likely prevented the shooter from reengaging because he realized his location was known to law enforcement.”Contee said he had not given an order for the counter-snipers to shoot because no one appeared at the window, but he was prepared to reevaluate if circumstances changed.Meanwhile at police headquarters, Carolyn Montagna, the director of the D.C. police department’s Joint Strategic and Tactical Analysis Command Center, coordinated with federal agencies and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force trying to unearth intelligence.Her team saw one of the first clue’s to the shooter’s identity — a 3:20 p.m. post to the 4chan platform by user Raymond Spencer reading, “School shooting!”The post linked to a shaky video that appeared to show the shooting from the gunman’s perspective. In the video, which Montagna’s office saw when someone tagged D.C. police in a tweet, the sound of gunfire erupts, and one of windows shatters.The hours of a fearful lockdown at Edmund Burke schoolAt 3:24 p.m., the same user posted: “Dear God please forgive me.”Another message at 3:30 read: “They’re in the wrong part of the building right now searching XD.”Then, at 4 p.m., a user named Raymond Spencer updated the Edmund Burke School’s Wikipedia page, writing: “A basedman shot at the school on April 22, 2022.