Sandy MaloneWashington, DC – The DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) released bodycam video of the fatal officer-involved shooting of armed man found sleeping in a car in the middle of the road early on Wednesday morning (video below).
The incident occurred at about 2:45 a.m. on Aug. 25 near the intersection of New York and Florida Avenues, NE, WDVM reported.
DC police responded to a call about an “unresponsive” man behind the wheel of a running vehicle stopped in the middle of a traffic lane.
MPD said that when officers arrived, they found the suspect asleep with his foot on the brake pedal of his running car, The Washington Post reported.
Officers could see the suspect had a gun in the waistband of his pants, according to the DC police.
MPD Chief Robert J. Contee said it took about 20 minutes for the first responding officers to get assistance to approach the vehicle, but the driver did not wake up during that time, The Washington Post reported.
Bodycam video released by police on Thursday showed officers surrounded the suspect’s car with their weapons drawn.
The officer wearing the bodycam that was released ran up to the group with a ballistic shield and appeared to take a command role at the scene, the video showed.
The video showed that one of the officers knocked on the window of the car to try to wake the driver up.
“He ain’t waking up,” one of the officers said.
When the driver finally woke up, multiple officers ordered him not to move.
But the video showed the man ignored commands and started driving away from police.
Bodycam video showed officers opened fire on the suspect in his vehicle, but bodycam did not capture what the suspect was doing at the time officer opened fire.
The car continued up New York Avenue for several blocks until it struck a tree near North Capitol Street.
Police have identified the driver as 27-year-old Antwan Gilmore, The Washington Post reported.
Officers at the scene quickly removed Gilmore from his vehicle after he crashed and began lifesaving efforts, WDVM reported.
He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
DC law required the department to release bodycam and the names of the officers who fired their weapons within five days of an officer-involved shooting, The Washington Post reported.
Officials did not identify the officers who fired their weapons when they released the video.
Several members of the DC City Council were outraged about the shooting, which was the second one within 24 hours in the nation’s capital, The Washington Post reported.
DC City Councilmember Janeese Lewis George compared it to the recent arrest of an alleged domestic terrorist who sat in a truck in front of the Library of Congress negotiating with police for hours before he surrendered.
“Sitting here trying to figure out how law enforcement can successfully de-escalate a white domestic terrorist in a truck threatening to blow up the Capitol with a bomb but not a Black man who fell asleep in his car?” George tweeted.
DC police said in the shooting is under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Once that investigation is completed, MPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct an investigation of the officer-involved shooting.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
Holly Matkin
