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A D.C. police officer has been charged with murder in the August 2021 killing of a Black man asleep at the wheel of his vehicle.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves unsealed a federal indictment Tuesday charging Metropolitan Police Department Sergeant Enis Jevric with second-degree murder as well as a civil rights violation in the shooting death of 27-year-old An’Twan Gilmore.
Sgt. Jevric pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday and was released on personal recognizance.
“When an officer willfully disregards the safety of a citizen he is sworn to protect, he violates the trust placed in him by virtue of his badge,” U.S. Attorney Graves said in a news release.
Jervic has been on paid administrative leave since the August 2021 shooting, the department confirmed.
August 2021 Shooting Of An’Twan Gilmore
In August 2021, D.C. police were dispatched to the intersection of Florida Ave and New York Ave at 2:45 a.m. after a call came in of an unconscious person inside a vehicle occupying a traffic lane. Upon arrival, officers observed an adult male unresponsive with his foot on the brake pedal of his running vehicle, with a handgun visible in his waistband.
Bodycam footage from Sgt. Jevric shows him being one of the last engaging officers responding to the scene. He parks his vehicle away from the scene and has to run for almost 30 seconds carrying a ballistic shield. As he engages with the vehicle and other officers you can hear him out of breath.
Graphic Warning: This video shows a fatal shooting
A nearby cell phone video shows that as many as eight officers surrounded the vehicle with guns drawn. The only officer to fire their weapon was the officer holding the ballistic shield. He fired his weapon 10 times into the moving vehicle.
D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said in a press conference that “firing at a moving vehicle is inconsistent with our policies.”
What Led To The D.C. Police Shooting?
Gilmore was asleep at the wheel with his foot on the brake pedal while the vehicle was running. After officers tapped on the window multiple times Gilmore began to wake up. It’s important to note that multiple law enforcement vehicles with their lights on were nearby, as well as officers surrounding the vehicle with guns pointed and flashlights shining into the vehicle.
As Gilmore woke up, his foot came off the brake pedal for a brief second causing his vehicle to lunge forward. No officers were in front of the vehicle, however the lunge did send officers into a panic with multiple officers yelling “don’t move”, “watch his hands”, “put it in park”, and other commands. The vehicle came to a brief stop, which is when the officer behind the ballistic shield began firing into the vehicle. Gilmore drove away as shots continued to enter into his vehicle, crashing into a tree nearby.
The shooting death came just days after a White man in a pickup truck threatened to have a bomb while parked near the U.S. Capitol. He eventually surrendered and was taken into custody peacefully by U.S. Capitol police.