D.C. police officer fatally shot after gun he tried to retrieve from storm drain suddenly goes off

A Washington, D.C., police officer was fatally shot after a gun he was trying to retrieve from a storm drain on Wednesday suddenly went off, authorities said.

Investigator Wayne David, a resident of D.C., was a member of the Metropolitan Police Department for over 25 years and a part of the Violent Crimes Suppression Division since 2007.

“There are few words to express the hurt and pain that Officer David’s family and the entire MPD is feeling right now,” Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said in a statement Wednesday. “Investigator David was the epitome of a great officer. He was a dedicated and highly respected member of the department, and this is a tremendous loss for all of us.”

At a news conference Wednesday evening, Metropolitan Police Executive Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll described the incident that resulted in David’s death.

At approximately 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday, officers were patrolling an area on the outskirts of Northeast Washington when they spotted someone leave a “suspicious vehicle.”

When officers tried contacting the person, he fled and jumped down from a wall onto Interstate 295. Police then saw him place a firearm in a storm drain before fleeing on the back of a motorcycle. It was unclear whether he knew the person driving the motorcycle, Carroll said.

When David went to retrieve the firearm from the drain, the gun suddenly went off and struck him in the “upper body area.” A helicopter took him to a nearby hospital, where he died later in the evening.

David had a son, daughter and girlfriend, Carroll said in a second news conference. He called David a “true hero to the District of Columbia.”

“He served with passion and honor and had the utmost respect of his peers,” Smith added in her statement. “I will be forever grateful for Investigator David’s service to the Metropolitan Police Department and his life will never be forgotten.”

In a release and on social media, police asked the public for help in identifying the person, captured by surveillance cameras, who placed the gun in the drain and fled the scene.

No information regarding arrests has been made public. Police did not immediately respond to a request for updates.