The mass shooting suspect accused of gunning down five people during a violent shooting spree in Philadelphia Monday night reportedly told police that he was only trying to help them curb gun violence in the city.
Kimbrady Carriker, 40, commended the officers who arrested him on a job well done following the deadly holiday weekend rampage, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
He then bizarrely told the cops that he allegedly opened fire on innocent people and children to try to help police since “all these guys are out there killing people,” sources familiar with the investigation told the outlet.
Carriker also told the officers that Yahweh, or God, would be sending more people to help without providing more details on what he meant, the sources said.
Carriker — who wore a bulletproof vest and ski mask while indiscriminately firing off an AR-5 style assault rifle during the rampage — was arraigned Wednesday on a slew of charges, including five counts of murder as well as attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons charges.
The Philadelphia man is accused of killing Daujan Brown, 15; Lashyd Merritt, 20; Dymir Stanton, 29; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; and Ralph Moralis, 59 — all of whom were innocent and random victims.
He also shot and wounded a 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy who was best friends with Brown, police alleged.
Carriker carried out the massacre on several blocks in Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood. He shot “aimlessly” at individuals walking on the street or driving by in cars and even into people’s homes, officials said.
He fired an AR-15-style rifle and had a pistol, extra magazine and a police scanner in his possession when he laid down and surrendered to police. At least one of the firearms is believed to be a “ghost gun,” which is illegally made and sold in parts without a traceable registration number.
His roommates told detectives Carriker had recently displayed troubling behavior, and one described him as a “biblical extremist” who believed in vigilante justice with regular people assisting police, according to the Inquirer.
The roommates said he had begun routinely wearing a bulletproof vest, wielding a gun, invoking religion and screaming inside the house, the paper reported.
Carriker’s social media posts also showed potential evidence of a breakdown. He reportedly wrote about “evil spirits” and conducting “patrols” in his neighborhood while blaming others for a lack of action to address crime in Philadelphia in a now-deleted Facebook page.
The alleged shooter, who has a previous gun conviction, also expressed staunch support for the Second Amendment, praised Donald Trump, knocked President Biden, applauded the Black Lives Matter movement and shared frequent biblical references on his Facebook page, according to Heavy.
Carriker also posted photos of himself to Facebook wearing women’s clothing, and neighbors said they saw him dress like the opposite sex once or twice before. However, the district attorney’s office said Carriker identified himself as male and not trans after initially referring to him using they/them pronouns.
Asa Khalif, a representative of the district attorney’s office, said that Carriker’s choice to sometimes wear women’s clothing and long hair should not be used as a way to attack innocent trans women at a press conference Wednesday.
“The language spewed out by the conservative press is violent and is dangerous and is targeting trans women of color,” Khalif said. “We have our trans women, and our trans men, living in these communities, working, thriving in the communities. They are not killers, they are the most vulnerable to violence.”
