Editor’s Note: This story contains details that may be disturbing. The linked video contains graphic content and words. Viewer discretion is advised.
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) released body-worn camera footage from a shooting officers were involved in that left a man dead in February.
Police said that around 6:15 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2025, an officer was driving north in the 3400 block of Georgia Ave. NW in a marked police cruiser when another car crashed into them.
The driver, whom MPD later identified as 29-year-old Surafel Zerihun, approached the officer with a knife out and tried to slash them through the open car window.
The officer drew their weapon and backed into the passenger seat, ordering Zerihun to move back. MPD said that Zerihun instead hit the car and demanded that the officer hand over their gun.
According to MPD, the man then lunged forward and tried to slash at the officer. That’s when the officer fired their gun.
Zerihun fell to the ground, and the officer called for backup and an ambulance.
MPD said that “at one point, the individual began stabbing themself with the knife.”
Additional units responded, at which time Zerihun tried to get into the driver’s seat of another officer’s cruiser. When he was unable to drive it away, he got out and ran away on foot along Georgia Ave., MPD said.
The second involved officer arrived and chased Zerihun on foot. He went to a parking lot, where MPD said he tried to carjack a driver sitting in their car.
That officer fired their gun several times.
Zerihun died there.
You can watch the full media briefing and body camera footage on MPD’s YouTube channel. Viewer discretion is advised.
