Police Investigating Monroe Street Shooting

Photo courtesy of Patrick D. Lewis

By Patrick D. Lewis

The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is investigating a mid-day shooting that happened on Monroe Street just outside of the Brookland Pint restaurant on Tuesday, October 3. No one was injured in the incident.

Around 6:00 pm on October 3, the Catholic University’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) sent an email to the CUA community that said there was a police response to reports of “what sounded like a gunshot near Monroe Street and 8th Street NE, which is off-campus and near the Metro.” The statement went on to say that “upon further investigation, it was determined that there was an unlawful discharge of a firearm.” The term “unlawful discharge of a firearm” is the legal wording for a shooting. DPS also said that there was not an active threat. The CUAlert system was not activated.

50 minutes after the first email, DPS sent another email to the community that said the area was reopened and that there were no injuries. DPS also reported that there were no suspects. No further information was released by DPS or MPD regarding the incident.

The Tower reached out to Kirk McLean, Associate Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management and Chief of DPS, for a statement. Chief McLean said that MPD was investigating and “has jurisdiction over the matter.” He also stated that “we at the Department of Public Safety are working closely with law enforcement partners to ensure the safety of the campus while also maintaining vigilance in patrolling the area.”

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) filed its own report regarding the incident which lists the time of the shooting as 4:00 pm on October 3 and says the shooting took place at 716 Monroe Street NE, the address of Brookland Works. This pinpoints the location of the incident at the intersection in front of Brookland Pint.

According to the report, police officers were dispatched to the area after 911 received calls reporting gunshots. Officers arriving on the scene found two bullet casings from a handgun and talked to five witnesses who all told similar stories of what transpired. Witnesses told officers that “school kids” had been involved in a “physical altercation” before one of them produced a handgun and fired two shots at another. No one was hit. Both of the persons involved then fled the scene in “unknown directions.” The report does not include any information regarding suspects and does not mention detectives responding to the scene (although it does say a crime scene technician was requested and responded to collect the casings). 

In their report, it is unclear what “school kids” refers to and DPS has not said whether any members of the Catholic University community were involved in the incident. MPD said that they will continue to investigate the shooting.