Suspect in DC Carjackings and Homicides Reported Dead in Prince George’s County, Maryland

By Jeff Levine - January 30, 2024
Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A man believed responsible for a series of carjacking and shooting incidents in DC and nearby communities was shot to death by police in Prince George’s County, Maryland on Jan. 30, according to local law enforcement authorities.

The suspect has been identified by the Maryland Attorney General’s office as Artell Cunningham, 28, of Suitland, Maryland.

“The violence that we saw yesterday was senseless and tragic,” said DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, at a Jan. 30 news conference detailing the violence episode.

The crime spree began on Jan. 29 at approximately 5:45 pm on the 900 block of K Street, NW when Cunningham reportedly entered a vehicle and shot his first victim who collapsed on the sidewalk. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries, where he succumbed to his injuries on Feb. 3. The victim was identified as 56-year-old Michael Gill.

Following the initial attack, Cunningham moved on to at least two other locations in the District, carjacking vehicles and fatally shooting a motorist at the 300 block of N Street, NE. He was identified by authorities as 35-year-old Alberto Vasquez Jr. and his vehicle was later recovered in Prince George’s County, MD.

“We immediately began to comb through video footage, interview witnesses that were there on the scene” to see if the events were connected, said Jeffery Carroll, Executive Assistant Chief of the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) at the news conference.  

In Carroll’s account, Cunningham fled DC in a stolen car as police departments in the area were alerted to the threat.  Overnight, he fired at a Metropolitan Police Department cruiser, striking a door but leaving the officer uninjured.  

Later, the suspect fired a bullet that struck the windshield of a Maryland State Trooper’s vehicle, according to a department spokesman, again without causing injury.  

Cunningham is thought to have carjacked at least two other vehicles after leaving DC. 

Police from New Carrollton, Maryland caught up with Cunningham while investigating a car that was abandoned in a roadway.  When they confronted him at 4:30 a.m. on the 7500 block of Annapolis Road in Hyattsville, Maryland, he reportedly brandished two weapons and two officers opened fire, killing him.

So far, authorities don’t have a motive. However, Carroll says MPD was contacted by an individual who knew Cunningham who said he suffered from mental health issues.  

The officers involved in the shooting were put on routine administrative leave pending a required investigation by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, according to a department spokesman who confirmed accounts of the crime.