Police: Officer Fatally Shoots Man In Northeast Washington

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A man who had a weapon that turned out to be a BB gun was fatally shot by a District of Columbia police officer Monday, authorities said.

The officer tried to stop the man, who was acting suspiciously, about 2 a.m., but the man fell as he tried to flee and the gun fell from his clothing, Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a news conference. The man then tried to gain control of the weapon, a BB gun that was a replica of a handgun, and didn't comply with the officer's commands, Lanier said.

The officer fired one round, striking the man, Lanier said. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, she said.

Lanier said the man has not yet been positively identified. In response to a question from a reporter, she said he was black and the officer, who has been on the force less than two years, is white. Race has not been raised as a factor in the shooting, but it comes amid a national debate about the deaths of black men at the hands of police.

"As of right now it is very preliminary. We still are gathering evidence. We don't have all the information," Lanier said.

The area where the shooting took place in northeast Washington is one where there is a police presence at all hours because of a history of violence, Lanier said.

Last August, police shot a woman in the same block, the 5300 Block of Clay Terrace, after she confronted officers with a knife. She survived. There was also a homicide on the block in November, according to a police statement at the time, and during that same month, police were involved in a fatal shooting about two blocks away. In the fatal shooting, police said a man confronted an officer with a "large hunting-style knife" and a second "edged weapon."

A report released in January by the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor said city police officers intentionally discharged their weapons 15 times in 2015. Since 2009 the number of fatal shootings by officers has consistently been in the range of three to eight per year, the report said.

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