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A U.S. Park Police officer was seriously wounded in a shooting in Southeast Washington, D.C., on Monday evening. According to the Associated Press, Park Police Chief Scott Brecht said in a press briefing that the officer was “ambushed” by two gunmen who fired at the officer as he drove by in an unmarked vehicle.
The officer was working in an ongoing Park Police investigation at the time of the shooting. Brecht declined to provide specifics about the investigation, but said, “We have jurisdiction in all of Washington, D.C.”
Vito Maggiolo, public information officer for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department, said the call came in about 7:30 p.m. The officer was airlifted by U.S. Park Police helicopter to an area hospital.
According to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the officer was shot in the shoulder and is in serious but stable condition. The U.S. Park Police confirmed in an email that the officer was in “non-life-threatening condition.”
The shooting took place in the District’s Southeast quadrant, close to the border with Maryland. Interim D.C. Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the officer was targeted. “There’s no reason that anybody, a police officer or not a police officer, should be shot just for being out here driving through the neighborhood,” Carroll said. “We believe potentially they did know he was a police officer, but that’ll all be part of the ongoing investigation as relates to the actual shooting incident.”
Federal officials are assisting in the investigation. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a posting on X, “I’ve spoken to Mayor Bowser and Police Chief Carroll and was briefed on the shooting.” FBI Director Kash Patel said in his own X post that he was “Praying for the Park Police officer shot in Washington, D.C. The FBI is actively supporting the investigation alongside our law enforcement partners and will bring those responsible to justice.”