The D.C. woman shot and killed by police early Saturday morning in D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood was armed with a handgun and was wearing a special police officer uniform, bulletproof vest, tactical pants and body-worn camera, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said Monday.
However, Erica Graham, 42, actually worked as a concierge for a private security company, Contee said, and was not a special police officer — the name for a private security guard who is commissioned by the District.
A concierge is responsible for dispatching special officers.
When police shot Graham she was wearing a special police officer’s uniform with a different name on it.
Sometime before the shooting Saturday morning, there was an “incident at her place of work, where some erratic behavior was displayed,” Contee said, and she left her workplace.
Then, shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday, officers were called to the 800 block of Crittenden Street Northwest for the report of a shooting. When officers arrived, they found a neighbor of Graham’s who had been shot in the arm.
Officers then found Graham on another neighbor’s front porch, striking the door frame with a handgun, according to a police news release.
Officers commanded Graham to drop the firearm, but she didn’t comply, police said.
Describing the moment leading up to the shooting, Contee said Monday. “It’s reported to us, the firearm was pointed at the police officer and the police officer fatally shot her.”
It’s not clear how many times the officer fired. That officer, in line with D.C. police policy, has been placed on administrative leave, and agents from the Force Investigation Team from the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau are investigating the shooting.
No officers were injured.
The other neighbor, whom police said Graham shot in the arm, was taken to the hospital and treated for injuries that were described as not life-threatening.
Body-worn camera from the officer who shot Graham is under review.
WTOP’s Luke Lukert contributed to this report.
