WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Police Department says an investigation is underway after an officer shot a person in Southeast D.C. Friday morning.
MPD officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 1300 block of Good Hope Road Southeast. police confirmed the shooting involved an officer firing at a person. In a press conference Friday, Police Chief Robert Contee III offered details in the very preliminary stages of the investigation.
According to Contee, the incident happened after a woman who had been hit with a pipe called the police. When officers responded, they looked for the man who struck the woman.
During a search of the area, an officer approached a man who Contee said abruptly got into the passenger side of a burgundy Jeep parked on Good Hope Road.
Contee said as the person got into the Jeep, the officer attempted to get the man to step out of the car. The man reportedly refused to get out. Contee said the man was ignoring the officers commands to "stop reaching" and was eventually shot.
"At some point during the course of this interaction when the officer is saying stop reaching, stop reaching, stop reaching, a shot is fired and the person is struck," Contee said.
The man was taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries. Contee could not say where the man was shot, or the severity of his injuries, but did say the man was conscious and breathing when he was taken to the hospital.
Contee said as they were handcuffing the man and taking him out of the car, the woman behind the wheel of the Jeep said, "Just get out of the car," and then drove off.
Contee spoke directly to the woman, begging her to come forward to help.
"Please, we really need to talk to you to understand everything that happened because we don't know everything that happened," Contee said. "I'm pleading, we really need to talk to you to put the pieces together."
Contee asked other witnesses who may have seen what happened to come forward and call 202-727-9099.
This is a developing story. We are working to gather additional details. Stay with WUSA9 for the latest updates as they come in to our newsroom.