One person has been killed and four others shot and wounded after a gunman opened fire inside a gym before barricading himself inside ‌an apartment building in Washington DC, police say.

The suspect holed up inside a seventh-floor unit, where police negotiators were able to open a dialogue, Metropolitan Police interim chief JW Carroll told reporters.

After about an hour, police heard a gunshot and forced their way into the apartment where they found ‌the suspect ⁠with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The suspect’s condition was not immediately clear ​but NBC and Fox News reported he had died, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.

Carroll said police believe he lived in the apartment and was a member of the gym where the attack began.

The shooting began just before 8am and officers arrived within 30 seconds, where they ⁠discovered an adult male shot.

Police were clearing a ‌nearby ​apartment building when gunshots rang out on the seventh floor where the suspect had barricaded himself, Carroll ​said.

Police did not ‌identify either the suspect or the deceased victim.

One of the four wounded people ​is in critical condition, Carroll said.

Investigators are working to determine a motive, Carroll said.

The shooting drew a massive police response, with large numbers of officers in tactical gear flooding the ​area ​in the trendy Logan Circle neighbourhood, about 1.6km northeast of the White House.

One person ‌who described himself as having witnessed the incident told Reuters that he heard gunshots and saw one man run to another who had apparently been struck by a bullet.

“Blood was pouring immediately, and he said, ‘He’s dead’,” the witness said.

“We didn’t know if the gunman was still on the premises, ​so we just ran frantically.”

He said he heard more gunshots after running away from ​the gym.

Schools near the scene were placed on lockdown.

The neighbourhood has been the scene of violence before.

In early August 2025, a former member of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted early on a Sunday morning in the Logan Circle neighbourhood by a group of teenagers attempting to carjack him and a woman, authorities said.

Days later, Trump bypassed local authority and imposed direct federal control over the city, sending in hundreds of National Guard members to reduce crime.

The deployment is still in place.

-with Reuters