The D.C. serial killer dubbed “The Shotgun Stalker” is asking a D.C. judge for a temporary release so he can spend a day with his father. Years before the “D.C. Sniper” shootings, residents of Northwest Washington had been terrorized by a shotgun-wielding predator who slowly drove up on his victims and blasted them with a 20-gauge shotgun.
In the winter and spring of 1993, James E. Swann Jr. killed four people and injured five others in 14 attacks. Most of the attacks came in the Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights neighborhoods.
Swann, of Iselin, N.J., claimed screaming ghosts told him to shoot people in Northwest Washington in retaliation for the death of Malcolm X. And if he refused their demands, Swann said, the “spirits” would inflict pain on him.
Swann was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined indefinitely to Saint Elizabeths Hospital, a psychiatric facility.
Swann, 46, is scheduled to ask for his release Tuesday morning before Judge Fred B. Ugast.
In court documents filed in D.C. Superior Court opposing Swann’s release, prosecutors describe him as unrepentant, dangerous and a person who “derives his self-esteem from the grandiose image of himself as a famous killer and a tough guy.”
During 16 years of therapy, Swann has shown a lack of remorse and empathy for his victims, prosecutors said. He once wore a T-shirt with the phrase “The Thrill of the Kill” and pointed a finger to the head of a staff member as if it were a gun and threatened to kill again, court documents state.
In 2010, Swann used a computer to create a Web site for a T-shirt business and had business cards printed that provided the hospital as his business address, court documents said.
The computer was taken away from him, but he continues to try to access it, prosecutors said. Swann has become more resistant to treatment, saying that the hospital was “treating him like a kindergartner,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said doctors believe that there’s a high likelihood that Swann would commit more violence if released.
U.S. Marshals deputies said they cannot talk about what security measures would be needed should Swann be released to visit with his father.
