(RepublicanNews.org) – Mike Gill, former US Commodity Futures Trading Commission chief of staff under President Trump, was shot to death in an attempted carjacking in Washington D.C. Police say that 28-year-old Artell Cunningham shot Gill, 56, as he sat in his parked car at Mount Vernon Square on Monday, January 29th, before abandoning the wounded man and his vehicle and continuing on a violent crime spree through the city. Gill died of his injuries on Saturday, February 4th.
After shooting Gill, Cunningham is said to have failed in an attempt to steal a Mercedes car. Shortly after this, he approached a man and woman next to their car and demanded their car keys. He shot the man, 35-year-old Alberto Vasquez Jr., dead, and fled the scene in a stolen Chrysler. According to police, he continued his rampage through the city well into the early hours of Tuesday, shooting at police officers on two separate occasions: once during a traffic stop, and once in a drive-by attack on a parked police car. Neither officer was injured.
Cunningham’s one-man crime wave was brought to a halt by police officers in New Carrollton, Maryland, who shot him dead at 4:30 am on Tuesday morning. Jeffrey Carroll, Maryland Police Department’s Executive Assistant Chief, told the press that preliminary interviews with witnesses suggest that Cunningham may have been in the midst of a mental health crisis.
Gill is survived by his widow, Kristina, and three children. Kristina Gill spoke of him as a “devoted husband and father” whose death leaves a “void” that cannot be filled. Former president Donald Trump spoke highly of Gill, calling him “wonderful and brilliant” on Truth Social the day after his death. Trump also took the opportunity to suggest that Washington D.C. should be placed under the administration of the federal government. The city has seen an increase in violent crime, particularly carjackings, in recent years. The murder rate hit a 20-year high in 2023, while the number of carjackings was twice as high as the previous year.
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