WASHINGTON — A family trip to D.C. turned tragic for a 25-year-old teacher shot and killed on Catholic University's campus Wednesday morning.
Maxwell Emerson was a social studies teacher and assistant wrestling coach for Oldham County Schools in Kentucky, visiting the District for a Library of Congress teacher development program, according to WUSA9's sister station in Louisville. While DC Police continue to investigate and search for a suspect seen in surveillance footage, the family of Maxwell Emerson are left with more questions than answers about what happened to him.
“We are holding up better than I ever expected," said Chandra Emerson, Maxwell's mother. "It comes in waves, but the community support is overwhelming. People are reaching out and lifting us up and giving to us in so many ways that I can feel more peace than I ever expected that I would in this situation.”
Chandra Emerson had joined her son, and his brother, for the trip to the nation's capital. On the morning of the shooting, Chandra Emerson said Maxwell Emerson left the house where they were all staying around 7:45 a.m. for the Metro to take him to the Library of Congress. She and her other son were still asleep when Maxwell left.
“We always Snap[chat] each other," Chandra Emerson said. "We had a streak, and he did snap me that morning -- I saw that."
Around 9 a.m. Chandra Emerson saw an unusual snap from her son.
“It said 'help' and then the next two lines were kind of jumbled, and I couldn’t really read it,” Chandra Emerson admitted. “It looked like maybe his finger dialed wrong—you know how you fumble sometimes—and I didn’t think much of it. I didn’t try to figure it out or anything because I was tired.”
But by 11 a.m., she noticed that her son was not returning her snaps like usual, and she started trying to decipher the earlier Snap.
"I figured out what it said, which was 'help, being robbed at gunpoint," Chandra Emerson concluded.
The Emerson family immediately tracked down a Metro Police officer to help find Maxwell, and the officer directed them to contacting DC Police, Chandra Emerson said a detective arrived about two hours later.
"After taking all of our information, [police] said, ‘There was an incident on Trinity Catholic University, and the person was shot and taken to a hospital but didn’t make it," Chandra Emerson said, recalling the moment she knew her son had died. "I was in shock more than anything else. I just sat there. My son, he had to make all the calls and do all the things ... you just can't explain it."
In a press conference Wednesday afternoon, DC Police said investigators believe the victim and suspect may have known each other prior to the deadly shooting.
“That cannot be true,” Chandra Emerson said.
The grieving mother acknowledges that she does not know what the video footage police have shows and said she has not been able to read any articles about her son's death.
"There is no possible way that [Max] knew him," she said.
Chandra Emerson added that she has “seen the pictures” and that the family doesn't know the person photographed. She said her family is concerned that the narrative about the two knowing each other will convince neighbors that there is no ongoing threat.
“We are still very concerned about why that narrative was being pushed so much: that the area is secure, that this is nothing wrong, that, you know, these two people just had an argument and everybody’s safe," Chandra Emerson said. "That is not true.”
Chandra Emerson made clear that she has no ill will towards the detective she worked with.
“They seemed to have integrity and was doing the right thing," she said. "I’m not questioning that. I just don’t understand where the narrative came that he knew the person."
For now, she just wants to honor her son's life, and understand what happened in his final moments.