WASHINGTON — A D.C. police officer shot at a robbery suspect armed with a BB gun in Anacostia Tuesday morning.
The suspect, who was armed, fled after the theft and was pursued by local citizens before they flagged down nearby police officers in the 1300 block of Good Hope Road in Southeast D.C.
Officers asked the suspect to drop his weapon, but he did not. At least two officers fired shots around 8 a.m., police said.
Police said later Tuesday that the weapon was a BB gun.
Emergency crews transported the suspect — whose name has not yet been released — to an area hospital where he was in very serious condition Tuesday.
“Shots were fired,” said interim D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham at a news conference Tuesday morning. “The suspect has been taken to a local hospital where he’s currently in surgery in very serious condition.”
Newsham said that police are working to piece together the events that transpired.
“Anybody who has seen or heard anything in the area, we’ll get them together, we’ll get statements from them. We’ll gather any forensic evidence, and then we’ll look at any videos we have of this particular area,” he told reporters. “We’ll look at all the businesses to see if there are any cameras so we can figure out what happened out here.”
Anyone with information should please call 202-727-9099.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this story.
