D.C. police search for suspect in Catholic University shooting that killed Kentucky man

D.C. police are seeking a suspect in connection with the shooting death of a Kentucky man on Catholic University’s campus in Northeast last week.

The Metropolitan Police Department released images of the suspect captured on surveillance video that show a man with tan skin wearing a black shirt, blue pants and orange shoes at the time of the shooting.

MPD seeks a suspect in reference to a homicide that occurred on Wednesday, July 5, 2023, in the 600 Block of Alumni Lane, Northeast.

Release: https://t.co/GWarhA3TVJ pic.twitter.com/IBngJb0Kk0

— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) July 7, 2023

Maxwell Emerson, 25, of Crestwood, Kentucky, was shot around 8:20 a.m. Wednesday near Father O’Connell Hall on Catholic University’s campus. He was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Surveillance video showed the victim and suspect walking from Michigan Avenue NE onto the university’s campus. Minutes later, the suspect shot Emerson and fled the scene.

Chandra Emerson, the victim’s mother, told NBC affiliate WAVE in Louisville that her son sent her a message that morning that read “help” and other words she couldn’t read. She eventually deciphered the message as “Help. I’m being robbed at gunpoint.”

Mrs. Emerson alerted Metro police at a nearby station. Officers later told her that her son was shot and killed.

“I was shocked more than anything else. Deep despair,” Mrs. Emerson told WAVE. “My other son, his twin brother, was with me and we held each other and cried and just kept saying that we have to go on and we have to be as Max would want us to be, which his thing was ’Champions find a way,’ and that’s what we’re doing.”

Emerson, who was a high school teacher and wrestling coach in the Louisville suburbs, was in town with his mother and brother for the District’s July 4 celebration and to attend a workshop at the Library of Congress.

Emerson was shot and killed while on his way to the workshop.