Mike Gill was shot outside his wife’s office in Washington shortly before 6pm on Tuesday
Mike Gill, a father of three, taken to hospital with critical head injuries after being shot outside wife’s office on Tuesday evening A former official in Donald Trump’s administration was shot in the head in an apparent carjacking incident in Washington DC.
Mike Gill, a father of three, was taken to hospital with critical injuries after being shot outside his wife’s office shortly before 6pm on Tuesday evening.
Mr Gill served as the chief operating officer of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under Mr Trump’s administration, and spent three terms on the DC Board of Elections.
Police said an unnamed gunman approached his car at 5.45pm, shooting him in the head before escaping on foot. Yolanda Douglas, an eyewitness, told the Washington Post that Mr Gill lay in the road, bleeding from the head, before his wife came out of her office building and screamed: “Oh my God, that’s my husband.”
The gunman later killed Alberto Vasquez Jr, stealing his car, before being shot and killed by police over the state border in Maryland, authorities said. Police are investigating whether the attacker had been attempting to steal Mr Gill’s car in the incident, which happened less than a mile from the White House. In a statement to Fox 5 on Tuesday, Mr Gill’s family called him “an amazing husband, father, friend and colleague” with a “wonderful sense of humor”.
“He makes friends with everyone, and is always looking for opportunities to bring people together and make them feel included and loved,” they said.
“His warmth and kindness have touched the lives of many, evident in the outpouring of love and support his family has received during this difficult time.”
The shooting comes as a crime wave sweeps the US capital amid a staffing crisis in the Washington DC Metropolitan Police. Statistics from the police department show that motor vehicle thefts increased by 82 per cent last year, while murder increased by 35 per cent and total crime rose by a quarter.
