Community vigil to honor life of DC police investigator who died while trying to retrieve gun

A community vigil is planned for Monday night in the Langdon neighborhood of Northeast D.C. to honor the life of fallen D.C. police investigator Wayne David, who died Wednesday after a gun he was trying to recover went off, striking him in the head.

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Harry Thomas Jr. shared a flyer for the vigil on social media, inviting neighbors, friends and family to attend.

fliyer for a community vigil
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Harry Thomas Jr. shared the above flyer for a vigil to honor fallen D.C. police investigator Wayne David. (Courtesy Harry Thomas via Facebook)

The vigil is being put on by the area ANC (5C06), Bryant Street Townhomes Condominium Association and Woodridge Home Owners Association. It will take place Monday at 7:30 p.m. at 18th and Bryant streets in Northeast.

Attendees will be encouraged to use their own cell phone flashlight as a vigil light.


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David was a D.C. native and a 25-year veteran of the District’s police force. He leaves behind a son and a daughter.

“He helped get hundreds of guns off our streets, and just a few years ago, he received the MPD Ribbon of Valor. Beyond being an officer, he was a good man — and a great dad — that many people loved and looked up to. The impact of guns on our community is unbearable. It is hard to accept that a man who came to work to protect our city won’t return home,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement following David’s death.

WTOP’s Ciara Wells contributed to this report.

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Thomas Robertson

Thomas Robertson is an Associate Producer and Web Writer/Editor at WTOP. After graduating in 2019 from James Madison University, Thomas moved away from Virginia for the first time in his life to cover the local government beat for a small daily newspaper in Zanesville, Ohio.

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