A Fort Washington man was sentenced to 82 years in prison Friday for a shooting rampage at a District of Columbia vocational training school in which two people were wounded. Thirty-year-old Wesley R. Johnson Jr. was convicted in May by a D.C. jury of 32 charges, including assault with intent to kill, carjacking while armed, and assault of a police officer while armed.
On April 28, 2008, Johnson walked into the Excel Institute, 2800 block of V Street NE, wearing a black suit, black hat and carrying a bag. Johnson had been a student at the institute for about a month, and seemed to be doing well, according to records. But on that April day he told a friend he was “Tired of it all,” and wrote a suicide note saying, “It’s judgment day.”
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Johnson entered the facility armed with a Tec-9 pistol and a sawed-off shotgun, police said.
He pulled the pistol from the bag, snuck up to principal Henry Schultz and aimed the gun at the back of the administrator’s head, prosecutors said. Schultz turned just as Johnson fired, and the bullet struck the principal in the face.
Schultz survived the attack, but compared the pain of being shot with “getting a root canal without getting any Novocaine.” He said it was more painful than when he was working as an electrician and was shocked with 13,000 volts, according to court documents.
After shooting the principal, Johnson then put the gun to the chest of an instructor, but the gun jammed.
Johnson then pulled the sawed-off shotgun from the bag and aimed it at a woman who was seven months pregnant. The woman dropped to her knees and attempted to shield her unborn child. Johnson chose not to shoot her and left the school.
Outside, Johnson walked up to another woman and pointed the Tec-9 and pulled the trigger. The bullet struck her in the chest, prosecutors said.
Johnson then carjacked a Ford Focus. He fired his shotgun at police who attempted to pull him over and made an initial escape. He later ditched the Focus, ordered two people out of a Ford Taurus and fled in that vehicle.
As he was attempting to escape in the Taurus, Johnson collided with a police vehicle. In a final act of rage, he shot at the officer in that vehicle before police finally took him into custody.
