WASHINGTON — D.C. police are desperately searching for two men who may single-handedly be responsible for a crime wave in one of the safest parts of the city.
Police believe the still unidentified men may have shot a 75-year-old Uber driver Sunday night on Wisconsin Avenue, before murdering a promising young college grad early Monday morning on Connecticut Avenue.
The Uber driver, Alexander Mireku of Rockville, said he's been robbed twice, but never seen anyone as violent as these two guys.
He was taking a break in the Tenley Market parking lot, talking to a friend on the phone, when he said they came up on either side of his Uber and just started shooting.
"They're dangerous and violent," he said. "They wouldn't even talk to you, they'll shoot you first."
Mireku is recovering now from two gunshot wounds to his left arm, but he considers himself lucky to be alive.
"If the shot had missed my arm by a little bit, it would have come to the side of my body and killed me quickly," he said, pointing to a spot just over his heart.
The Rockville senior citizen said he saw the two men approaching either side of his car and was suspicious enough that he had already started pulling away. He heard the gunfire, but he was so scared, he didn't even realize he'd been hit until he pulled into a McDonalds a couple of blocks away to call 911.
"Guy doesn't ask you for anything, just pulls out a gun and starts shooting at you," Mireku said.
Police suspect the same two men may have murdered 23-year-old Alexander Nwogu just three hours after shooting Mireku.
Investigators found Nwogu beaten and shot in the back at a Shell gas station on Connecticut Avenue at Fessenden Street, NW less than a mile away.
Nwogu had just graduated with honors from Virginia Tech and was slated to start a new high-powered consulting job this week.
Police have stepped up patrols across the Second Police District, but Councilmember Mary Cheh is asking residents to keep their eyes open.
"If you see something that looks suspicious, call 911," she said. "What the police tell us is that it's better that you call and if it turns out to be nothing. They're happy to check it out."
Mireku is convinced that the men who shot him are also the men who murdered Nwogu.
"They didn't give me a chance," he said. They didn't talk to me."
He would have given them money, but he had no more than $5 on him.
"What money did I have?" he said. "Because Uber, when you drive, you don't carry cash with you."
There has been a huge outpouring of support for the family of Alex Nwogu, this amazing young college graduate who was murdered. Heartbroken messages from friends and strangers are all over Twitter.
They've donated more than $21,000 dollars to a GoFundMe set up to help cover his funeral expenses, but they're nothing that will compensate for the loss of his drive and energy.
Police are offering a $25,000 dollar reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in his death.
