A Kentucky teacher killed on Catholic Universty's campus tried to tackle the man who was robbing him at gunpoint right before he was shot to death, prosecutors say.
On Wednesday, a judge ordered the suspect — 22-year-old Jaime Macedo, also known as Jaime Maceo — remain in jail without bond after prosecutors presented evidence, including new surveillance images, in the killing of 25-year-old Maxwell "Max" Emerson.
Investigators believe Macedo first encountered Emerson at about 7:35 a.m. July 5 outside the Brookland-CUA Metro station on Michigan Avenue NE, according to court documents.
Emerson was visiting D.C. and on his way to attend a professional development workshop for teachers at the Library of Congress at the time.
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After their first encounter at the Metro station, surveillance video captured Emerson and Macedo walking near Catholic University, according to court documents. One photo included in the affidavit shows Emerson with his hands up in the air as the suspect is walking next to him.
The two eventually end up in a small park on the campus, and prosecutors said another image shows Macedo lunging for something Emerson is holding in his hands.
Then, images show Emerson get up and tackle Macedo in an apparent effort to get away, according to prosecutors. That's when police say Emerson was shot once in the abdomen.
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Investigators believe the entire interaction between the two men lasted about 25 minutes.
At one point, Emerson sent his mother a message on Snapchat saying he was being robbed at gunpoint, police and family said.
In addition to the surveillance photos, prosecutors said Wednesday that DNA taken from a ski mask found at the scene is a match to Macedo's DNA.
Suspect has criminal history
D.C. police said Macedo's arrest on Tuesday was a direct result of a phone tip they received after the department released surveillance photos of the suspect.
Public records show Macedo has a lengthy criminal history. He was arrested five times since 2019 and was convicted of carrying a pistol without a license, burglary and threats. In June 2021, Macedo was sentenced to 30 months in prison with all but 18 months suspended.
In 2022, Macedo was charged with gun possession in a shootout with a neighbor in D.C., but the U.S. Attorney's Office dismissed the charges against him on June 30, five days before Emerson was killed.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the case was dismissed on the grounds of self defense.
After Macedo's arrest on Tuesday, Emerson's family said they were relieved to know that progress had been made in the case.
"Our prayers have been answered," Emerson's father, Steve Emerson, said in a phone call with News4's Mark Segraves. "We're happy an arrest in the murder of our son has been made. Not only happy that he's off the street but that the community and D.C. is a little bit safer."
The victim's sister, Ellen, called the arrest "a big relief" in a separate phone call with Segraves.
"I'm in shock right now," she said. "I hope this will bring justice for Max."
Shortly after the deadly shooting, police said the suspect and victim knew each other. But Emerson's family pushed back on that statement, saying there was no way that he knew the shooter, and they didn't know anyone in D.C.
Message for help
Emerson's mother, Chandra Emerson, said she, Max and his twin brother all came to the city on July 1 to celebrate the Fourth of July before the teachers workshop started on Wednesday. They were all staying at Trinity Washington University in Northeast, she said.
On July 5, Max Emerson left the university to walk to the Metro station nearby and head to the workshop. A while later, his mother said she received a strange message from him.
"I had gotten a snap earlier in the morning that said, 'Help,' and then some jumbled words that I couldn't read," Chandra Emerson said in an interview with WAVE, an NBC affiliate station in Louisville, Kentucky.
At first she thought he sent the message by accident. Then she realized it said, "Help. I'm being robbed at gunpoint," she said.
Chandra Emerson said she went to the Metro station with her other son and told Metro police about the message. Detectives eventually came and told them he had been shot and killed on Catholic University's campus nearby.
"I was shocked more than anything else. Deep despair," she said. "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 was a social studies teacher and assistant wrestling coach at Oldham County High School in La Grange, Kentucky, a spokesperson for Oldham County Schools confirmed.
Family members told News4 that Emerson, from Crestwood, Kentucky, won a grant to attend the three-day workshop for teachers at the Library of Congress.
"Max was the most … go-getter person that you will meet. He was the champion in all things in his mind, soul, heart, spirit. He was a very strong Christian," Chandra Emerson said. "He cared about people. He was a leader. He was a great teacher. He cared about students."
Chandra Emerson said their family loved visiting D.C. and had stayed at Trinity Washington University many times in the past.
She and her sons went to see the Fourth of July fireworks show on the National Mall the night before Max was killed.
"Max said something like it just brought a tear to his eye because … he was moved by the fireworks and the spectacle of it all," she said.
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