A D.C. man has been charged after he opened fire on two volunteer officers in Northeast on Thursday, police said.
The man was hiding in a wooded area near the intersection of Hawaii Avenue and Varnum Street Northeast when he opened fire on a pair of reserve officers in a police car just before 4 p.m., D.C. police Chief Peter Newsham said in a news conference Thursday.
The man was identified Friday as Delvin Pollard, 25, of Northeast D.C., and he has been charged with assault with intent to kill, assault on a police officer and unlawful possession of a firearm.
“Looks like he tried to assassinate a couple of our police officers,” Newsham said Thursday.
The officers reported the shooting and went after the suspect. A little while later, the officers arrested a man in possession of a weapon nearby.
Nobody was injured during the incident.
Newsham called the actions of the reserve officers “heroic.”
On Friday morning, Newsham told WTOP that the reserve officers were shot at when they were getting back into their vehicle, after visiting the 7-Eleven in the 300 block of Hawaii Avenue Northeast.
“As they were getting into their vehicle, they heard shots being fired in their direction,” Newsham said.
The officers took cover and immediately called for help.
“They said that they did not return fire because they were concerned — it was rush hour, and they saw all the traffic on Taylor Street, so they were concerned that they might strike one of those commuters,” he added.
Newsham called their response “impressive.”
“Our reserve corps members really don’t get enough credit for what they do,” Newsham said.
Volunteer police officers are fully trained D.C. police officers who have gone through the academy and serve in a volunteer capacity.
“Part of it is they want to give back to the community where they live,” Newsham said. “And I think the other part about it is that some of them … always wanted to be police officers, and they fell into different professions. This gives them the opportunity not only to help their community, but to do something that they always wanted to do.”
Below is a map of the area where shots were fired at the officers.
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein and Michelle Basch contributed to this report.
This story was originally published Dec. 12, 2019.
