A 35-year-old father of two was shot and killed in a Northeast D.C. carjacking as police say one man tore through D.C. and Maryland on an 11-hour crime spree.
Alberto Vasquez grew up in Woodbridge, Virginia, and had moved to D.C. just a few years ago, his heartbroken parents told News4. He was charismatic and funny, and worked for banks and law firms, his parents said.
“He would never hurt anyone,” Vasquez’s father, Jacob Walker, said.
Vasquez was at Third and N streets NE at about 7:15 p.m. Monday when an armed carjacker confronted him and his girlfriend.
“They gave up the keys and, for whatever reason, the guy still shot him and ended up killing my son,” his mother, Antoinette Walker, said.
Vasquez’s parents called the crime senseless.
“You just kill him over a car?” his father asked.
Police say the shooter, 28-year-old Artell Cunningham of Suitland, Maryland, carjacked multiple people and shot at police. He was shot and killed by police in New Carrollton, Maryland, early Tuesday after he pulled two handguns on officers, a spokesman for the Maryland Attorney General's Office said. D.C. police said they believe Cunningham was mentally ill.
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Vasquez is survived by two young daughters.
