Suspect arrested, charged with murder of a Kentucky teacher in D.C.

Police on Tuesday arrested a 22-year-old man in the shooting death of a Kentucky teacher who was in Washington, D.C., for professional development training.

Metropolitan Police Department officials said in a news release that 25-year-old Maxwell Emerson was shot by 22-year-old Jaime Maceo, also known as Jaime Macedo, of Northwest D.C. He was charged with first-degree murder while armed.

Emerson, a social studies teacher and wrestling coach at Oldham County High School, was in Washington, D.C., for professional development training. The fatal shooting occurred July 5 as he walked on the Catholic University campus.

Washington, D.C., police initially said they thought Emerson and the suspect knew each other because they were walking together. But Emerson’s family told the Washington Post and WAVE in Louisville that he knew no one in the area and that he had texted his mother, who was traveling with him, that he was robbed at gunpoint and needed help.

Police had released photos of the suspect and thanked the public for tips that led to the arrest.

The Washington Post reported that D.C. police arrested Maceo during a 2019 traffic stop and charged him with having an illegal firearm after finding a .40-caliber Glock loaded with 15 hollow-point bullets tucked under a sweater. Maceo pleaded guilty to carrying an unlicensed gun and was sentenced to probation, with a one-year prison term suspended. Records show he violated the terms of his release and in 2020 was re-sentenced to six months in jail, the Washington Post said.

After his release, he continued to violate his release conditions, the newspaper reported, and a hearing on those violations is scheduled for July 18.