Photos: Gunman Shoots Up Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC With AK-47
Early Thursday morning, the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, was attacked by a gunman who reportedly fired 30 rounds at the building with an AK-47. No one was injured in the attack, but the embassy building sustained damage.
A Texas man was charged Thursday with attacking Cuba’s primary diplomatic facility in the District of Columbia. During a 2 a.m. attack on the building in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, he allegedly fired nearly 30 rounds at the structure from the public sidewalk outside the perimeter fence.
According to the embassy’s Twitter account, neither embassy staff nor bystanders were hurt, “but there was material damage caused to the building resulting from the impact of the bullets.”
Photos from the scene posted on social media show chipped marble from the columns and large pockmarks in the building facade, as well as a shattered street lamp.
The suspect was identified to the Washington Post as Alexander Alazo, 42, of Aubrey, Texas. On the police report filed by the Metropolitan Police Department Thursday, the offense was marked as a “suspected hate crime.” He was charged with assault with intent to kill.
A maroon Nissan Pathfinder SUV with Texas license plates found in front of the property is believed by police to belong to Alazo.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel condemned the aggression in a statement on Twitter Thursday, and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said, “It is the responsibility of States to protect diplomats accredited to them and their facilities.”
A fan page for Cuban national hero José Martí noted the statue of Martí installed in the embassy’s front garden last year appeared undamaged by the attack. The page quoted a defiant Marti, who lived many years in the United States and was distrustful of American expansionism amid the Cuban colony’s struggle for independence from Spain.
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