Ex-Trump Official Dies After Being Shot In Violent DC Carjacking Spree
Former Trump administration official Mike Gill, 56, died on Saturday after being critically wounded this week in an 11-hour crime spree that spanned from Downtown Washington DC to Maryland.
"It is with profound sadness that I wish to inform the community of the passing of my husband, Mike Gill," said his wife, Kristina Gill, in a statement reported by Fox 5 DC. "His sudden departure has left a void in our lives that can never be filled."
Gill, who served as Trump's chief operating officer of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and a married father of three, was sitting in his Jeep Cherokee waiting to pick up his wife near Mount Vernon Square on the evening of Jan. 29, when the suspected gunman - identified as 28-year-old Artell Cunningham, got inside the car and shot him in the head around 5:45 p.m.
MPD Investigating Man’s Overnight Crime Spree, Leaving 1 Dead and 1 with Critical Injuries
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) January 31, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/kED6OfCpUG pic.twitter.com/FpzY9Wunx7
Cunningham then fled the scene on foot, attempted to carjack another individual unsuccessfully, and then approached a man and a woman, demanding their keys. Cunningham then allegedly shot the man, 45-year-old Albnerto Vasquez, Jr., who later died at a local hospital.
Cunningham was later killed by police.
According to Kristina Gill, her husband's "heart was evident in everything he did."
He coached his daughter’s soccer team, served at Holy Trinity Parish and “relished opening our home to friends and colleagues to bring people together. Friends of Mike's knew they could always count on him to help solve a problem. He was in his element pouring a friend a drink and sharing a good story to give a laugh.” -NBC 4
"[He’s] the friendliest guy you’d ever met but nobody's fool by any stretch. Underneath that soft exterior was a determined executive who could achieve really big things," former CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo told the outlet earlier in the week, who showered praise on Gill.
"In our time at the Commission, if we achieved anything, 95% of the credit goes to Mike Gill, who’s a person that never sought credit, who never sought anything for himself."