Kimbrady Carriker, the gunman accused of fatally shooting five people and injuring two children during a mass shooting in Philadelphia on Monday, was described as a Black Lives Matter supporter and a cross-dresser, the New York Post reported.
Carriker, 40, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was armed with a rifle, pistol, additional magazines, and a police scanner when he opened fire on the victims in Philadelphia’s Kingsessing section, police said. Four men died on the street, while Carriker fatally shot the fifth male victim inside a house after pursuing him.
The suspect later surrendered and was arrested after engaging police in a chase and opening fire on them. He was said to be a Black Lives Matter supporter and a cross-dresser. Carriker also occasionally took to Facebook to share posts supporting the activist movement, per New York Post.
RELATED STORIES
He also reportedly had a keen interest in guns and shared images and memes of armed people. In the wake of the incident, law enforcement sources told CNN that the suspect informed police his motive behind the attack was to clean up the neighborhood.
Authorities also said that in the days before the shooting, Carriker had become increasingly agitated, while his online behavior was also worrying, CBS News reported. Assistant District Attorney, Joanne Pescatore, in a news conference on Wednesday, said the 40-year-old had been “exhibiting abnormal behavior for quite a while.”
Assistant District Attorney, Robert Wainwright, also said Carriker was among eight people staying together in a home.
“They thought he was getting more and more agitated as the days were passing,” Pescatore said, “and their way of dealing with it was just to avoid it and not interfere with him even though they all lived in the same house.”
The individuals living with Carriker told investigators that their housemate had normalized putting on his bulletproof vest and being in possession of guns in the home. “I’m not blaming anybody, but if anybody out there has such a situation as this, maybe, maybe, just call, call somebody … and maybe he could have gotten help before this became what it did,” Pescatore said.
Philadelphia Sheriff, Rochelle Bilal, said Carriker had shared “disturbing” social media posts prior to the shooting. The sheriff implored people to make authorities aware of such online behaviors.
“Let us use this opportunity to reexamine social media posts we may see that mention harming someone or suggests extreme activities,” Bilal said. “…They are letting people know what they are about to do, and that is on all of us to not sit silent.”
Following the incident, a member of District Attorney Larry Krasner’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee, Asa Khalif, said transgender people had been subjected to online attacks because of the circulation of Carriker’s photos.
“The language that is spewed out by the conservative press is violent and is dangerous and is targeting trans women of color,” Khalif said. “It’s rallying the community to be violent, and we’re better than that.”
Khalif said Carriker solely identified himself as a man, and not transgender. The suspect is being held without bail on charges of murder, attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and weapons charges.
