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After a shooting at a D.C. school injuring two people, the accused suspect pleaded not guilty to assault with intent to kill.
Classes were canceled Wednesday at the Excel Institute in Northeast Washington, one day after the shooting that included two carjackings and a chase, according to police.
Both victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The Metropolitan Police Department (web|news) identified the suspect as 27-year-old Wesley Johnson of Fort Washington, Maryland.
The victims, a male and a female, were shot around 2 p.m. at the Excel Institute located at 2591 V Street, NE. About 30 students were inside the building when the shooting started.
According to D.C. Police, a disgruntled student with a gun went inside the school and shot a male then shot a female outside the school before carjacking a vehicle and driving to 17th and East Capitol Street, Southeast.
The suspect put a gun to the head of lead instructor Curtis Hochtman, but the gun jammed. "Yeah, I'm lucky. Anybody and everybody who was up here today is lucky."
One man was taking out garbage when the first shots were fired. "When I turned to get the kitchen trash, that's when I heard the gunshots. When I went back, I saw the dude holding the gun."
"What went through my mind is get everybody out of there. There's a gun in there and none of us can address it. What's going through my mind is get a hold of police and get this guy out of here," said school director Henry Schultz.
Two people were shot, including Schultz and a female outside of the school, who was coming to visit the school's founder George Starke.
"I heard a shot then he pointed the gun at me and walked out. I'm just in shock right now."
"I just thank the Lord for how fortunate I was," said Schultz. "All of a sudden I heard an explosion and I didn't know what it was. For whatever reason, I put my hand up to my face and I kind of knelt down and I took my hand away and I noticed the blood and I said, 'Holy Christ, you shot me!'"
Even after shooting Shultz, the shooter wasn't finished. "I saw him the shooter hold the gun up like this and it jammed and I don't know if he was going to shoot Curtis or shoot me again, but it jammed."
Hochtman was back on the job a day after the shootings. "It was very tough, but I knew I needed to be here. It shows everybody a presentation. I needed to be here to show everybody, staff, students, that it's still safe to come back."
After leaving, the gunman carjacked one car then an exterminator vehicle. The whole time, police officers were chasing him while he fired at them. After a brief pursuit, the suspect was finally apprehended at 19th and C Street SE, but not before hitting a police cruiser, injuring an officer and another car, injuring a pregnant woman. 
All of the victims' injuries are considered non-life threatening.
According to its website, the Excel Institute is a 501(c)(3), licensed post secondary educational institution founded in 1997 by former Washington Redskin George Starke, and John Lyon, CEO of Parking Management Inc.
"I don't have any information to suggest that he was looking for anybody," said D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier (web|news|bio) .
"The only information I have is that he was very agitated when he arrived at the school and is a student here and opened fire inside."
Starke expressed relief no one was killed. "So, it's not a good day, but it's not a tragic day."
A day later, Schultz was recuperating at home trying to figure out exactly why a good student lost control. "I don't think I was a target. I don't think there was a target at the school. It was just we were all the targets, just kind of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"This is something you don't expect. I just didn't expect it," said Schultz.
Johnson faces numerous criminal charges, including two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, two counts of armed carjacking, and assault on a police officer while armed.
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