A woman shot to death by officers while wearing a special police officer uniform in northwest DC allegedly had a mental health crisis less than an hour earlier at the security company he worked for, authorities said.
DC police were first called to the 2900 block of 14th Street NW “for multiple reports of an employee experiencing a mental health crisis” at 5:06 a.m. on April 23, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
The woman, Erica Graham, 42, left before police arrived, police said.
A Columbia Heights Village resident, who did not want to be identified, described Graham as a well-liked front desk clerk at the building. The resident said that when he got home early Saturday morning, Graham seemed distraught and fearful.
“She was very nice,” he said. “She was very nice, but she was scared that night and it showed on her face.”
The resident said Graham fled out the back door of the building as his co-workers tried to intervene. He said he got into his car in the parking lot and sped away when police and an ambulance arrived.
Less than an hour later, police saw Graham in the 800 block of Crittenden Street NW, where they believe he shot and injured a neighbor.
According to police, Graham was working as a janitor for a security company responsible for dispatching special police officers, and was allegedly waving a gun and smashing windows when they arrived.
Officers tried to talk to her for about a minute and asked her to drop the gun and get on the ground, but she didn’t comply, DC Police Chief Robert Contee said.
Police then shot and killed Graham.
Police said Graham was wearing a bulletproof vest and body camera that he obtained from his workplace at the time of the shooting, along with a special police officer’s uniform that displayed a name that was not his own. Graham was not a licensed special police officer in DC, police said.
No further details about what may have triggered Graham’s crisis were immediately provided.
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