Montgomery County Police officers talk with residents of Aspen Hill, Maryland, after, 35-year-old Conrad Johnson, a Jamaican, was shot and killed on Grand Pre Road. Police are investigating the shooting in connection with the Washington area sniper. - ReutersCONRAD EVERTON Johnson, a 35-year-old Jamaican national residing in Washington D.C. became the latest victim of a sniper attack in the United States capital yesterday.
The father of two young boys was killed at 5:55 a.m as he prepared to commence his daily route with the Montgomery County Ride-On commuter bus system. He was shot in the upper abdomen as he stood on the top steps of the bus.
Within half an hour of the shooting, Mr. Johnson was airlifted to the Bethesda Suburban Hospital in Maryland, but surgeons there were unable to save his life.
In an interview with the Washington office of the Jamaica Information Service, the mother of the victim, Sonia Wills, described Mr. Johnson as the "light of the life of his children, his wife and his family".
She noted that her son was "a lovely human being who loved to help others. His work on earth was done and so God took him.
Since receiving news of his death, Mr. Johnson's siblings and family members have already started arriving from across the United States. His brother, who was visiting from Texas, was also at the hospital with other family members when he was pronounced dead. Mr. Johnson hailed from May Pen, Clarendon and migrated to the United States in 1978.
Although ballistics tests are yet to confirm that the so-called 'Beltway Sniper' was responsible for Mr. Johnson's death, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose indicated the shooting was consistent with the pattern of past attacks.
He said the "methodology and circumstance" of the attack pointed to the gunman, who has killed nine people and seriously wounded three others in Washington and the suburban areas of Maryland and Virginia, since the shootings began on October 2.
Immediately after the shooting, police put a widespread dragnet into place, slowing traffic on Connecticut Avenue, one of the main arteries into Washington, D.C. just as the morning commute began.
Police helicopters flew over the scene, as cars were checked at roadblocks in perimeters from suburban Maryland into the City of Washington, DC, for nearly four hours. Police also shut down the American Legion bridge separating Maryland from Virginia in a futile effort to apprehend the gunman.
The location of the shooting was adjacent to an apartment building and wooded area in Apsen Hill, Maryland, and was minutes from the very first confirmed location to have been targeted by the sniper.
Jamaica's Ambassador to the United States, Seymour Mullings, extended condolences to the Johnson family and pledged the Embassy's "full support as they deal with this shocking tragedy and mourn the life of a fellow Jamaican, who was indeed an example to his family, co-workers and the broader community".
