A Kentucky high school teacher, who was staying at Trinity Washington University with two family members while he attended a conference, died July 5, 2023, after he was shot on the neighboring campus of The Catholic University of America.

Maxwell Emerson, 25, a social studies teacher and wrestling coach at Oldham County High School in La Grange, Kentucky, was discovered shot around 8:20 a.m. in front of Father O’Connell Hall at CUA, then transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to a Metropolitan Police Department statement.

The police department is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot Emerson, as they continue their investigation into the shooting.

Emerson, his mother, and brother had been staying in Kerby Hall at Trinity while he attended a professional workshop at the Library of Congress, Trinity President Patricia McGuire confirmed July 6.

Police investigators have said that Emerson was on his way to the Brookland Metro Station to get to the Library of Congress July 5 and that surveillance video showed two men walking onto the CUA campus and one of the men shooting the other before running off, indicating the two men knew each other.

However, the victim’s mother, Chandra Emerson, told WAVE – an NBC affiliate station in Louisville, Kentucky – she didn’t believe her son knew the man who shot him and said she received a message from him that read “Help,” and jumbled words she believes indicates he was being robbed at gunpoint.

Though the shooting doesn’t appear to have any connection with CUA and the university classes and activities continued as scheduled, the school’s campus ministry held a prayer service at 11:30 a.m. July 6 in front of O’Connell Hall.

“We certainly gather for the repose of his (Emerson’s) soul, consolation for his family and friends,” said Dominican Father Aquinas Guilbeau, chaplain and director of campus ministry at CUA, during the prayer service. “We pray for the police as they investigate and continue to piece together the circumstances of this tragedy.”

Trinity security was on heightened alert following the shooting and the university’s security officials were continuing to communicate with members of the Metropolitan Police Department and CUA security as the investigation continued, McGuire said. “Our hearts go out to his (Emerson’s) family,” she said, “and we pray for him and them as we also continue to pray for an end to violence in our city.”