Man shot, killed by off-duty DC police officer identified; photo of recovered firearm released
WASHINGTON - Officials have identified the man who was shot and killed by an off-duty D.C. police officer Wednesday night in Northeast D.C.
Officers found 24-year-old D'Quan Young suffering from gunshots wounds near the Brentwood Recreation Center in the 2300 block of 15th Street just before 7 p.m. Young was hospitalized, but later died.
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said the officer involved in the shooting was off-duty and was not in uniform at the time of the incident.
"It appears he used his department-issued service weapon," Newsham said Wednesday night.
Investigators are trying to determine why the off-duty officer was in the area and what led to the shooting.
Young was the father of a 4-year-old girl and a man well known in the Montana Terrace neighborhood of Northeast D.C., according to his family.
What exactly happened to Young remains unclear, but witnesses said they heard a lot of shots. Andy Williams said he was out on the baseball field when the shooting began. He described to us what others saw the officer do just before the shooting.
"He rode past several times, then he parked, got out of the car down there somewhere, walked up the street with his baseball cap on backwards," Williams said. "This is the officer with his baseball cap and a duffel bag in his hand with a black shirt on, black baseball cap, like he was coming to do something. Why were you in the neighborhood? Nobody knew why he was in the neighborhood."
As of Wednesday night, D.C. police said they also did not know why the officer was there in the area.
Some witnesses said the off-duty officer emptied his weapon and reloaded. Police have not confirmed that.
Residents said some of the projectiles hit a car's windshield, another car's bumper and flattened a tire on another vehicle.
Witnesses also told FOX 5 that after the shooting, as many as three housing authority officers came to the scene and pulled their weapons on the off-duty officer telling him to get on the ground. They then walked him away from the scene.
At Young's house located two blocks away, his sisters wonder what they are going to tell his daughter.
"How are we going to explain this to her?" said Monica Wood, Young's sister. "A cop is somebody she is supposed to look up to and she can run to, that person to protect her. To kill her father - how do we explain that to a 4-year old? That is the hardest. She told me today she is confused."
Police said Young was armed with a gun when he was shot. They released a photo of the firearm that was recovered at the scene Wednesday. Investigators will also review body camera footage from responding officers.
The officer involved in the shooting was placed on administrative leave, officials say. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 202-727-9099.