WASHINGTON — A Safe Passage worker has died after a shooting that locked down three schools on Monday, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said.
The shooting happened near Coolidge High School and Ida B. Wells Middle School in the 500 block of Somerset Place, Northwest – causing both schools to be locked down. Nearby Whittier Elementary School was also locked down.
Officers who responded to the scene found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was conscious and breathing at the time, but police said he was taken to an area hospital in critical condition. Police in D.C. said the man died from his injuries on Tuesday.
Police identified the man Tuesday afternoon as 36-year-old Michael Gaddis of Northwest, D.C.
"Safe Passage addresses District student and school safety concerns, especially as students arrive and depart from school," the organization's website says.
MPD said the worker was off duty at the time of the shooting but couldn't say whether or not they were about to come on duty as schools in the area were released.
No information regarding suspects has been released, but police said they are believed to have fled in a vehicle.
The lockdown at the schools has since been lifted and students were released for the day.
On Friday, Ida B. Wells Middle School and Coolidge High School were placed on "alert status" after MPD said they found an injured man in an alley between the schools. That same day, two other D.C. schools were placed on lockdown after a teen was shot in a nearby neighborhood.
And in just this past month there have been two additional shootings in the surrounding Brightwood neighborhood.
An 8-year-old was shot and injured in a deadly quadruple shooting.
Two kids and a man were hit getting off a nearby Metro Bus.
"This is one of the neighborhoods that absolutely we felt safe in up until this recent shooting spree," said Jeff Canady at the scene Monday. He lived in this neighborhood for 15 years. "We need to do better with the children of the District of Columbia, and we honestly need to take a self-assessment of what we're actually doing with the children of the District of Columbia."