A United States Park officer was shot in Northwest D.C. on Wednesday afternoon.
The officer was shot after confronting a suspect who pulled a gun on him.
After the suspect brandished the weapon, both the officer and suspect exchanged gunfire and hit one another.
Witnesses of the shooting reported seeing the officer have a tourniquet around his right thigh and the suspect bleeding through his jeans.
The officer and the suspect were taken to the hospital, and their conditions are unknown.
JUST IN: A U.S. Park Police officer and another person were shot at 12th and M streets in Northwest D.C., according to law enforcement sources. News4 is headed to the scene, and you can get updates here: https://t.co/lnSbAlQS2W
— NBC4 Washington (@nbcwashington) November 22, 2023
A U.S. Park Police officer was wounded and another person was injured Wednesday in a shooting in the District near 12th and M streets NW, a few blocks south of Logan Circle, authorities said. A Park Police officer was seen on the ground with a tourniquet around his right thigh, and a man was seen lying on a curb with blood seeping through his jeans. Both were taken to hospitals, authorities said. Their conditions were not immediately clear.
The shooting, about 2:33 p.m., appeared to have occurred in front of Horizon House, an apartment complex for senior people with disabilities. One man, Will Schoenberg, 35, who lives near 11th and M streets, said he heard about six to 10 rapid-fire shots.
Ella Cleveland, 74, said she was sitting in the living room of her apartment on nearby Massachusetts Avenue NE when she heard “cars driving fast and sirens.” She has lived in the neighborhood 35 years and described it as safe. “It’s upsetting when something like this happens,” she said.
The neighborhood, with its tree-lined streets, restaurants and rowhouses, has been spared from the spike in homicides that has racked parts of the District this year. Police reported no killings so far in 2023 in the area where Wednesday’s shooting occurred. But there have been 15 robberies there since January, up from five in the same period last year, according to D.C. police data.
In 2023 alone, there have been 249 homicides in D.C., and that number is expected to rise.
