Hearing scheduled for suspect in DC nightclub mass shooting
WASHINGTON - D.C. police are investigating two separate shootings overnight in popular nightlife areas of Northwest D.C.
On the 1300 block of U Street, a man was shot and killed. D.C. police say they’re looking for two men, one of whom left on a motorcycle.
That happened hours after a mass shooting in Dupont Circle outside a popular nightclub.
According to the affidavit, Mantock was forced to leave the bar Decades. Shortly after, the affidavit says he pulled out a gun and opened fire.
Six people had gunshot wounds, all non-life-threatening. Five of them were employees of the bar.
FOX 5 spoke to the sixth victim, who says she was shot in the leg while celebrating her bachelorette and is getting married in two weeks.
The court paperwork says police were able to locate the shooter very quickly thanks to witnesses, help from the Uniformed Secret Service who was there, and MPD who was nearby.
Mantock is charged with multiple counts of Assault with Intent to Kill while armed, and illegal possession of a firearm.
According to the court documents, Mantock says he was dancing with a woman when he was kicked out, alleging the staff at the bar got physical with him in removing him. FOX 5 reached out to the bar for comment but were referred to their attorneys.
FOX 5 spoke with Mariska Raglow-DeFranco, who was inside the bar when the shooting happened. She didn’t hear the shots but says chaos and panic quickly set in as people inside didn’t know what was happening.
"There was yelling and screaming and, you know, it can happen at a bar, people are drunk but there was definitely lots of commotion," Raglow-DeFranco said. "The scary part is that it can happen anywhere and it doesn’t really matter, like, what you’re doing or how safe you’re being, I guess."
She and her friends left out a back door and crouched behind dumpsters in an alley.
D.C. has a nightlife task force, essentially a saturation of city resources that were in Dupont and on U Street when both shootings happened overnight.
FOX 5 was told the shooting here happened in the presence of those many city agencies, which is what helped lead to a quick arrest.
Court records indicate a preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 7. For now, court records show he’s being held without bond.