Metropolitan Police Department (DC Police / MPD)

DC Police Fatally Shoot Woman Armed With Gun

Officers shot and killed a Virginia woman armed with a gun in southwest D.C. Tuesday, police said.

D.C. police received a report of a crash in the 100 block of Joliet Street SW, near the Bald Eagle Recreation Center. When officers arrived before 7 p.m., the situation had escalated to a report of a woman with a gun, police said.

After 41-year-old Isabelle Duval of Winchester was involved in a crash, she got out of her vehicle armed with a semiautomatic pistol, Police Chief Peter Newsham said. She waved the gun around, according to witness Troy Scott.

On her knees right in front of the rec center, she ignored several commands from police to drop the weapon and raised it toward officers, Newsham said. Two officers fired their weapons.

A witness said he heard at least four shots. News4 found six bullet holes in the rec center's wall.

The woman was taken to a local hospital. Shortly before 10 p.m., authorities announced the woman had died.

Newsham said investigators are speaking with witnesses. He voiced concern about gunfire in an area where children were playing.

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“We shouldn’t have a firearm discharge in this city at all,” he said. “It is extremely dangerous. Not only is it dangerous, it scares people, especially young people.”

Police said they will review surveillance footage from street cameras and from a Metrobus that was in the area. The officers' body cameras were on, Newsham said. 

The officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave, per department policy. 

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