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Police Fatally Shoot Man Wielding BB Gun In Northeast DC

REUTERS/Gary Cameron

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Steve Birr Vice Reporter
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Two police officers in Washington, D.C., fatally shot a man wielding a BB gun Monday night after the man refused commands to drop the fake weapon.

The Metropolitan Police Department responded to a call in northeast Washington near Brookland of a man brandishing a handgun. When officers arrived at the scene they found the man holding the pellet gun and told him several times to drop it. The officers open fired on the man after he refused several commands and pointed the pellet gun at the officers, reports NBC Washington.

Authorities took the unidentified man to a local hospital in critical condition where he succumbed to his wounds. Authorities will release the man’s identity once a next of kin has been notified.

“The suspect’s weapon was recovered on the scene,” read an MPD statement. “Investigation revealed the weapon produced by the suspect was a BB Gun.  This case remains under investigation.”

The District is suffering a violent year, with over 61 confirmed homicides across the city. D.C. saw a staggering 53 percent spike in the murder rate in 2015, the highest rate in eight years. The alarming spike in homicides is spilling into 2016, tracking closely with last year’s figures.

Much of the violence stems from Wards 6 and 7, which are dwarfing 2015 crime statistics so far this year. Rattled residents in Ward 7 are witnessing a tripling in the homicide rate compared to 2015, accounting for nearly half of all homicides in the District this year.

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