Mr Rich was shot and killed around 4:20 am while on the phone with his girlfriend. What he did for the roughly two and a half hours between leaving that first bar and getting killed remains unclear.
Rumours quickly swirled on right-wing blogs and Twitter that Mr Rich’s death may have been politically motivated. Some even claimed – without evidence – that Democratic officials may have killed Mr Rich as revenge for the leak.
However, police said that the death was likely a robbery gone wrong and that they had no evidence his murder was related to his job at the DNC.
Police noted that there were several other armed robberies in the area that occurred in the days before his death. Seven arrests were made following his murder, and firearms were produced but they didn’t match the ballistics in Mr Rich’s death.
Though police say that Mr Rich was the victim of a robbery gone wrong, he was found shot in the back still in possession of his wallet, credit cards, and cell phone. His wristwatch was torn but not broken.
