A Kentucky teacher who was shot to death on Catholic University's campus Wednesday morning said someone was robbing him at gunpoint and he needed help in his final message to his mother.
Maxwell "Max" Emerson, 25, was visiting D.C. to attend a professional development workshop for teachers at the Library of Congress, his family said.
His mother, Chandra Emerson, said she, Max and his twin brother all came to the city on Saturday to celebrate the Fourth of July before the teachers' workshop started on Wednesday. They were all staying at Trinity Washington University in Northeast, she said.
On Wednesday morning, Max Emerson left the university to walk to the Metro station nearby and head to the workshop. A while later, his mother said she received a strange message from him.
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"I had gotten a snap earlier in the morning that said, 'Help,' and then some jumbled words that I couldn't read," Chandra Emerson said in an interview with WAVE, an NBC affiliate station in Louisville, Kentucky.
At first she thought he sent the message by accident. But then she realized it said, "Help. I'm being robbed at gunpoint," she said.
Chandra Emerson said she went to the Metro station with her other son and told Metro police about the message. Detectives eventually came and told them he had been shot and killed on Catholic University's campus nearby.
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"I was shocked more than anything else. Deep despair," she said. "My other son, his twin brother, was with me and we held each other and cried and just kept saying that we have to go on and we have to be as Max would want us to be, which his thing was 'Champions find a way,' and that's what we're doing."
Max Emerson was found shot about 8:20 a.m. in front of Father O'Connell Hall, police said.
D.C. police said surveillance video showed two men walking onto the campus from Michigan Avenue NE into the plaza in front of Father O'Connell Hall. After a few minutes, one of the men shot the other before running off, police said.
Investigators believed the two men knew each other, police said Wednesday. But Emerson's family pushed back on that statement, saying there was no way that he knew the shooter, and they didn't know anyone in D.C.
Emerson was a social studies teacher and assistant wrestling coach at Oldham County High School in La Grange, Kentucky, a spokesperson for Oldham County Schools confirmed.
Family members told News4 that Emerson, from Crestwood, Kentucky, won a grant to attend the three-day workshop for teachers at the Library of Congress.
"Max was the most … go-getter person that you will meet. He was the champion in all things in his mind, soul, heart, spirit. He was a very strong Christian," Chandra Emerson said. "He cared about people. He was a leader. He was a great teacher. He cared about students."
Chandra Emerson said their family loved visiting D.C. and had stayed at Trinity Washington University many times in the past.
She and her sons went to see the Fourth of July fireworks show on the National Mall the night before Max was killed.
"Max said something like it just brought a tear to his eye because … he was moved by the fireworks and the spectacle of it all," she said.
Police said neither the suspect or Emerson was affiliated with Catholic University.
Stay with News4 for updates to this developing story.
