By Antonio Planas, Juliette Arcodia and Jonathan Dienst -
NBC News
Authorities have detained a person suspected of being connected to a series of shootings - including two murders - of homeless men in Washington DC and New York City, according to police.
The unidentified man was captured early Tuesday, Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Capt. Darren Haskis confirmed.
Details about how officers found the person and the charges against him were not immediately available.
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"He is being questioned in our Homicide Branch," the police department said in a tweet.
“Additional information will follow shortly.
Thanks to the community for all your clues,” they added.
Five homeless people have been shot in the two cities since March 3, including a fatal shooting and stabbing of a man Wednesday in the capital and a deadly shooting Saturday in Manhattan, according to authorities.
The attacks sparked an intense manhunt, with authorities in both cities asking the public for help in getting the man off the streets.
Authorities had offered a reward of up to $70,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect.
Images from a security camera of the suspect in the shooting attack on homeless people on the streets of New York.NYPD
The first three attacks occurred in the country's capital.
The first two shootings occurred at 4 am on March 3 and 1:21 am on Tuesday, and in both cases the victims survived.
A fatality was discovered on Wednesday when an officer from the Metropolitan Police Department detected a fire in a tent on the street, according to the joint statement.
The latest attacks came less than two hours apart on Saturday in New York City, according to authorities.
The first shooting occurred around 4:30 am, when a 38-year-old man was shot in his sleep and woke up screaming, "What are you doing?" police explained at a news conference.
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The second shooting, the fatal one, is believed to have occurred around 6 am, according to police.
But they were not notified of a dead man in a sleeping bag with head and neck injuries until about 11 hours later.
The two shootings on Saturday occurred within a radius of about 600 meters apart, according to police.
The identity of the victims is not known.
In a joint statement Sunday, New York and Washington police said they suspect the shootings of the five homeless people are related.
One of the homeless slain in New York "was quiet and didn't bother anyone."
They are still looking for their attacker
March 14, 202201:36
“Given the similarity in the modus operandi of the perpetrator, the circumstances of each shooting and of the victims, and information from ATF's National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN), we will jointly advance the investigation of these homicides and shootings”, they have pointed out.
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The shooter was carrying a semi-automatic pistol, according to police.
Officials from the two cities held a joint news conference Monday night urging homeless residents to seek shelter.