Isaiah Trotman, who is charged in the fatal shooting of a Silver Spring Metro electrician, pled not guilty Monday in D.C. Superior Court. The 32-year-old D.C. man continues to be held without bond.
Robert Cunningham, 64, was fatally shot Feb. 1 while trying to save a female train passenger who was being threatened at gunpoint.
Trotman has been found competent following examination at St. Elizabeths Hospital in D.C.
He is charged with 52 counts, including first-degree murder, in connection with an attack on a Metrobus that continued underground at the Potomac Avenue Metro station, where Cunningham was shot in the head. Other charges include kidnapping and multiple weapons offenses.
According to court records, Cunningham was unconscious when police first arrived on the scene around 9 a.m. He, along with two others, were suffering from apparent gun shots.
The other victims were transported to the hospital. Cunningham was pronounced dead at the scene. Both other victims were shot in the leg.
According to court records, Trotman is alleged to have shot the first victim as the victim exited a bus and headed to the metro station.
Cunningham was shot when he tried to intervene in the assault of a woman on the platform, who was approached by the suspect while she was putting money on her farecard.
Trotman grabbed the woman by the neck as she was going through the turnstiles. Cunningham grabbed the shooter from behind in a choke hold, but the defendant was able to shoot Cunningham.
The defendant then approached a third victim and said, “I’ll shoot you,” and “I am God,” according to court records. Witnesses also heard Trotman yell, “I am a killer.”
Trotman then boarded the train. A passenger was able to grab the gun and disarm him and then threw the handgun onto the tracks. Trotman then exited the metro, where police stopped him.
Police reviewed train and bus video, located cartridge casings and interviewed witnesses during their investigation.
