WASHINGTON — An off-duty police officer shot and killed a man armed with a semiautomatic handgun in the area of a Southwest Washington entertainment district Saturday night, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
The encounter took place shortly after 9 p.m. EDT in the area of The Wharf, a district of restaurants, shops and entertainment venues along the Potomac River.
At least one shot was fired by the officer, who was with a second off-duty officer at the time, Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said. A person who may have been with the gunman was being treated at a hospital for a graze wound, Contee said.
The officers had observed the man pointing a handgun while on a pier just outside of a restaurant and “engaged” the man, Contee said in a statement to reporters. He said the suspect was “a very brazen individual” and that the investigation was continuing.