The D.C. police officer who shot and killed a man while off duty in May 2018 will not be charged.
The office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. said the officer won’t face federal or D.C. charges in the killing of 24-year-old D’Quan Young, of Northeast D.C., on 15th Street Northeast, near the Brentwood Recreation Center, on May 9, 2018.
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement Wednesday that witness interviews, video footage and physical evidence indicated that Young confronted and pulled a gun on the officer, who was in the area for a cookout and was walking up and down the street looking for the house where it was being held.
The officer pulled out his service weapon and told Young to drop his gun, the statement said.
Young didn’t, and the officer shot him five times, and “fired additional shots” as well, the statement said. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that there was no evidence the two men knew each other.
Prosecutors couldn’t find enough “evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the off-duty officer acted under color of law or used excessive force under the circumstances,” which is what is needed to file federal civil rights charges, or that the officer “did not act in self-defense,” which is the standard for filing D.C. homicide charges.
