WASHINGTON — Guard members who stepped in to break up a fight in Southeast Washington late Sunday were fired on, Interim Police Chief Jeff Carroll said. One Guard member was hit in the leg. The suspect was hit in the abdomen.
The Metropolitan Police Department put the time at about 11:10 p.m. and the place as the 400 block of 8th Street SE, in a post on X that first announced a shooting there involving a National Guardsman.
Carroll told reporters at the scene that seven or eight Guard members were sitting in a van when they saw a fight break out on the sidewalk. They got out of the van to try to stop it.
A man who had been involved in the fight then pulled out a firearm and began shooting, Carroll said. Guard members ordered him to put down the gun, but he pointed the weapon toward them and they returned fire.
The man also ran into a nearby alley and fired again at the Guard members, according to Carroll. The shooting had started on the sidewalk, near the entrance to the alley.
Three members of the National Guard discharged their firearms, Carroll said. Police do not yet know which one struck the suspect.
The suspect was placed under arrest. Both he and the wounded Guard member were taken to local hospitals, and both are expected to survive. Carroll described their injuries as non-life-threatening.
“At this point, there’s no further threat to the community.”
Police are not looking for any other suspects in the shooting itself. Other people who took part in the fight, or saw it, left the area afterward, and investigators want to speak with them. Carroll said people involved in the fight could face charges, such as assault, once the investigation is complete, but the man in custody is the one police say took part in the shooting.
He said preliminary information pointed to a fight between people who had been on the block earlier in the evening. The exact details, he said, were not yet known.
Guard members began giving aid to the wounded man after the shooting, Carroll said. D.C. Fire and EMS personnel from a firehouse beside the area also came out and treated both the suspect and the Guard member.
MPD’s Internal Affairs Division and its Criminal Investigations Division have the investigation.
Anyone who was in the area or has information about what happened can call police at 202-727-9099 or send a text to 50411, Carroll said.
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