A high school teacher who also coached wrestling was shot and killed last week in Washington D.C. while visiting the nation's capitol from his home state of Kentucky for a special conference.
D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department announced on Tuesday, nearly a week after the fatal shooting, that it had arrested its primary suspect and charged him with first-degree murder while armed, according to the Daily Wire.
That suspect has been identified as Jaime Maceo, 22, also known as Jaime Macedo, who had a prior criminal record and arguably should not have been out on the public streets, much less be armed.
In a now-deleted press release, D.C.'s MPD announced that Maceo had been arrested and charged in relation to the July 5 fatal shooting of Maxwell Emerson, 25, of Crestwood, Kentucky, on the campus of Catholic University in Washington D.C.
Emerson had been shot and killed shortly after 8 am while on his way to a conference at the Library of Congress during his visit to D.C. with his family that also coincided with the July 4 holiday. Unfortunately, despite life-saving efforts by emergency first responders, Emerson was pronounced dead at a hospital from the gunshot wounds he had sustained.
Following the shooting, MPD posted surveillance camera footage of the suspect and offered a $25,000 reward for any information from the public that would lead to his arrest.
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
In the now-deleted press release, per the Daily Wire, the MPD stated, "The Metropolitan Police Department would like to thank the community for their information and tips that helped progress the investigation."
Local Fox affiliate WTTG reported that the victim's mother, Chandra Emerson, told the outlet that she had been informed of the arrest and said, "It helps to know that he is off the streets and the community is safer."
"We still have a long journey ahead of us, but we are encouraged by the speed at which the detectives worked," the grieving mother added. "We are a step deeper into our healing."
Previously, WTTG reported on some initial confusion in the aftermath of the fatal shooting, as MPD wrongly assumed that the shooter and victim had known each other and that there was no broader threat to the community, based on a clip of surveillance camera footage that appeared to show the two men walking together just before the deadly confrontation.
However, Emerson's family sharply disputed that conclusion and expressed their belief that Emerson had been killed in a botched robbery based on a cryptic misspelled text message the victim sent right before he was murdered that, in retrospect, strongly suggests that he was robbed at gunpoint while on his way to a Metro station to travel to the conference he was set to attend.
As for the suspect, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that he would likely soon face an arraignment hearing on the first-degree murder charge, though it was unclear if he had an attorney to represent him in that case.
The suspect did have an attorney for his prior criminal cases, however -- though he declined to comment on the matter -- that involved a guilty plea on a firearms charge in 2019 and multiple probation violations afterward, which arguably should have had him sent to prison, and for which he is scheduled to appear in court later this month.
