A federal agent opened fire in Southeast D.C. after a traffic stop and police chase, D.C. police say. The gunfire marks the second time in less than a month that a federal agent on the president’s task force fired shots after a traffic stop.
The agent opened fire on Benning Road NE on Thursday afternoon, the Metropolitan Police Department said in what they called a preliminary account. No injuries were reported.
D.C. police and federal partners “working together under the DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force” spotted a traffic violation and pulled someone over at Pennsylvania and Minnesota avenues SE at about 4:45 p.m., an MPD spokesman said in a statement.
The driver fled and members of the task force pursued them.
“A short time later, a federal agent involved in the vehicle pursuit discharged their firearm in the 3400 block of Benning Road, Northeast,” police said.
The suspect was later taken into custody. D.C. police did not open fire, the spokesman said.
The suspect’s name was not released, nor was information on any charges.
An investigation by MPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau’s Force Investigations Team is underway. MPD referred further questions to Homeland Security Investigations, which did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
D.C. police launched an investigation into a shooting by a federal agent during a traffic stop on Oct 17. Police said a Homeland Security agent who is part of the president’s federal task force fired the shots.
No one was injured, but, as News4 reported, a D.C. police officer who was part of the stop testified in court that he was told by his superior not to include any of the details about the shooting in his arrest report. Protesters called out what they called an attempted coverup by police.
According to two separate police reports and a charging document, police tried to pull over Phillip Brown, 33, on Oct. 17 on Benning Road because he didn’t have a front license plate.
Photos showed bullet holes in Brown’s car door and the front passenger seat. Brown was not armed.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said D.C. police tried to pull Brown over but he “drove his vehicle toward a Metro Police officer and a special agent from Homeland Security Investigations.”
“The agent felt in fear for his life, and the lives of others, and discharged his weapon into the suspect’s vehicle,” the statement said.
An investigation is underway, ICE said.
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