A Masked Gunman Is Targeting Homeless Individuals As They Sleep, According To Police

Five times in nine days, a masked shooter has opened fire on homeless people sleeping on the streets of New York and Washington, DC.

The "modus operandi" in both cases, according to police, and the mayors of both cities believe a "cold-blooded killer" is on the loose.

Two persons perished as a result of the accident. After being stabbed and shot, one man's tent was set on fire.

A reward is now being offered for the killer's capture.

One guy was shot on March 3 and another on March 8, both in the middle of the night, according to the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC.

They were hurt, but they survived it.

A day later, emergency crews were called to a tent fire in the city, where they discovered a guy who had been fatally shot and stabbed inside.

In the early hours of the morning in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood, a masked suspect shot a man sleeping on a street.

"The victim, who was shot in the arm, woke up and shouted 'what are you doing?' and the suspect escaped," New York Police Department Deputy Chief Hank Sautner said during a press conference.

According to authorities, the same person shot and murdered another man sleeping in Soho an hour later.

In a joint statement, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared, "We now have a cold-blooded killer on the run."

Watching CCTV footage of the fatal shooting in Manhattan, Mayor Adams said, was "scary."

"It appears that the case is a clear and awful purposeful act of taking someone's life because he was homeless," he continued.

For information leading to the gunman's capture, police in DC are offering a $25,000 (£19,100) reward, while police in New York are offering a $10,000 (£7,650) incentive.

The investigation has also been joined by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.