The man accused of shooting a woman in a Virginia office previously was convicted of murder but still managed to get a gun.
Arlington County police responded to a report of a possible domestic situation in the 1500 block of Crystal Drive about noon Wednesday.
The gunman and an officer both fired shots, police said, and the gunman and a woman he knew were wounded. Both are expected to survive.
Police had people at the building shelter in place for more than an hour while they secured the building.
Mumeet Muhammed is charged with aggravated malicious wounding, felon in possession of a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Muhammed also used the name Toni Macklin, and Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos said she convicted Macklin of murder in 1991.
“He is prohibited,” she said. “He is a prohibited person from legally possessing, purchasing, transporting a firearm.”
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Stamos wants to know how a convicted murderer was able to get a gun and terrorize a workplace.
According to court documents, a woman who knew the gunman filed a petition seeking a stay away order in D.C. Superior Court July 15.
He was arrested for misdemeanor assault and threatening a male friend the next day but was released on his own recognizance pending trial.
On Aug. 20, there were reports of a shot fired in Fort Dupont Park in Southeast D.C. U.S. Park Police found Muhammed with injuries to his hand consistent with using a handgun.
Stamos said he should have been held in custody as a danger to the community.
“He was arrested previously about a month or so ago, two months ago, for a case involving an assault that I believe also involved some issues of domestic violence and threats, and then was subsequently released on personal recognizance, which, quite honestly, I find to be astonishing,” she said.
A D.C. Superior Court spokesperson said the charges are misdemeanors, which is why the judge ordered him released rather than held in custody until trial.
