WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — D.C. government officials said Wednesday that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) would not be releasing the body-worn camera footage of officers fatally shooting a man on Sunday, per his family’s request.
Police fatally shot 26-year-old Justin Robinson outside of a McDonald’s in Southeast D.C. on Sunday.
In a letter obtained by DC News Now, Deputy Mayor Lindsey Appiah wrote the following to Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto:
This letter is to notify you of a fatal officer involved shooting involving Metropolitan Police
Department Officers Vaso Mateus and Bryan Gilchrist on September 1, 2024, in the 2500 block
of Marion Barry Avenue, SE.The next of kin of the subject of the serious use of force declined release of body-worn camera
footage of this incident.Lindsey Appiah, Deputy Mayor
In a news conference, Police Chief Pamela Smith said officers responded to the area after receiving a call about a car crash shortly after 5 a.m. At the scene, they found a car hit the McDonald’s, causing minor damage.
Robinson was inside the car unconscious.
Officers said they saw he had a gun and called for additional police. When Robinson started to move, Smith said the officers told him to drop the gun.
Smith said Robinson reached for an officer’s gun during the interaction and the two opened fire, shooting him. He died there.
In a protest on Monday, Robinson’s family and friends gathered outside of the District 7 police headquarters. They demanded MPD release the body-worn camera footage of the shooting.
According to the Office of the Attorney General, Robinson worked as a violence interrupter for the Cure the Streets Program. People at Monday’s rally called the loss “devastating.”
