DC Police Fatally Shoot Armed Man, Protest Ensues Outside Precinct

Police and concrete barricades surround St. John's Episcopal Church near Lafayette Square during the March on Washington August 28, 2020 in Washington. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Police officers in Washington fatally shot a man on Wednesday after responding to a report of guns in a vehicle.

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham said uniformed officers approached the vehicle in question on Wednesday afternoon when two passengers fled on foot.

The wounded man was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Newsham said two guns have been recovered from the scene.

“We believe the suspect had a gun at the time,” Newsham said, but declined to speculate on why the officers opened fire.

The man’s age was not available as police worked on identification.

A local Antifa extremist group affiliate called for an emergency protest outside the Metropolitan Police Department’s 7th District headquarters, writing on Twitter that “DC police murdered a Black man today.”

A live feed from the protest showed a crowd of roughly 100 protesters listening to speeches and chanting “you can’t stop the revolution” and “no justice, no peace,” among other slogans. Some of the protesters cursed and taunted police officers holding a line outside the precinct.

Some of the speakers identified the victim as Deon Kay, the same name reported by The Washington Post. The newspaper learned from relatives that Kay was 18 years old and lived with his mother not far from the site of the shooting.

“They took my baby, they just took my baby from me,” Natasha Kay, the man’s mother, told the newspaper.

“I need my son back,” the mother said. “I want my son back.”

The shooting comes after months of violence and riots that began after the police-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In June, amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd, the D.C. Council passed emergency legislation requiring the Metropolitan Police Department to release any body camera footage from any fatal shootings or use-of-force incidents within five days. The department must also release the names of the officers involved.

The family of the victim can object to the release of the footage, in which case the video would not be made public.

In July, the city released body camera footage from three separate fatal incidents dating back to 2018.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.