Metro Transit Police Officer Fatally Shoots Man Near Deanwood Metro Station

What to Know

  • Metro Transit Police officers investigating a crowd setting off fireworks saw a man with a gun.
  • The gunman fired shots at the officers, who returned fire, killing the man, D.C. police said.

A man who fired shots at Metro Transit Police officers was shot and killed late Monday night near the Deanwood Metro station in northeast D.C., authorities said.

Metro Transit Police went to the 1300 block of 49th Street NE before 11 p.m. to investigate a large crowd setting off fireworks, including M80s a firecrackers, D.C. police said. When they arrived, officers found a man with a gun. The officers identified themselves as police, and the man fired shots at them before one of the officers shot the man, police said.

The man, identified as 21-year-old Sidney Washington Jr. of southeast D.C., was taken to a hospital where he died, police said. His gun was recovered at the scene.

Some residents in the neighborhood told News4 they had trouble distinguishing between the sound of the fireworks and the sound of gunshots.

“I did hear the gunshots last night, I actually heard them,” Leroy Ware said. “Some people called each other saying, I think there's gunshots mixed in with the fireworks. People were having gunshot fun around here.”

The officer who fired was not injured. The officer, a 12-year veteran, is on routine administrative leave, Metro spokeswoman Sherri Ly said.

Residents told News4 in April that they feel on guard when they use the Deanwood Metro station.

D.C. police and Metro Transit Police stepped up patrols there after one 15-year-old boy was shot and killed there in March and another 15-year-old boy was fatally stabbed there in April.

"We need a bigger police presence in the area because it is a trouble spot," one resident said.

"This is obviously a frightening place to be," another said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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