DC Officers Won't Be Charged for Killing Woman in Southwest DC Last Year

Two officers who shot and killed a Virginia woman armed with a gun in Southwest D.C. last May will not face any charges, prosecutors said Thursday.

Isabelle Duval died May 16, 2017 after police say she got in a car crash, pointed a pistol at a D.C. police officer and then ignored multiple orders to put down the gun, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Two officers then fired at her. She was 41. 

"Federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers used excessive force under the circumstances," prosecutors said in a statement. "To the contrary, there is sufficient evidence that the officers were acting in self-defense and defense of others at the time of the shooting."

A toxicology report showed Duval was under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl at the time of the shooting, outside a neighborhood recreation center.

Investigators found a pistol and another weapon with multiple rounds of ammunition in her car.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, D.C. police received a report of a "women with a gun" at 100 Joliet St. SW, near the Bald Eagle Recreation Center close to the Maryland border. Duval was involved in a car crash and appeared to have a broken leg.

Witnesses tried to help Duval out of the car, but she refused help, officials said. Then, Duval pulled out a pistol and started "crawling and scooting" toward the rec center’s door.

When police arrived just after 6:30 p.m., officers ordered Duval to drop the weapon, but she did not comply and raised it toward one officer. Two officers then fired their weapons.

Duval was hit once in the chest, once in the buttocks and a bullet grazed her leg.

She was taken to a hospital. Shortly before 10 p.m., authorities announced she had died.

The gunshot wound to the chest was the cause of death. 

Police reviewed body camera and other surveillance footage, autopsy and toxicology reports, civilian witness interviews and physical evidence from the car Duval had been driving.

Per department policy, the officers involved in the shooting were on paid administrative leave following the incident.