LOCAL CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

D.C. youth fatally shot by victim of attempted carjacking, police say

By Peter Hermann and Emily Davies
Updated October 29, 2023 at 5:22 p.m. EDT | Published October 29, 2023 at 2:05 p.m. EDT

An off-duty federal security officer on his way into work Saturday night fatally shot a 13-year-old boy who the officer said was one of two youths who tried to carjack him in the District’s Penn Quarter neighborhood, near public safety buildings and an entertainment complex, according to D.C. police.

Police said in a statement that the officer, waiting for his shift to start, was sitting in his personal vehicle in the 600 block of D Street NW, near the D.C. Superior Court building, when the two youths approached him shortly after 10 p.m. and demanded his vehicle. ... The officer told investigators the youths demanded he get out of his vehicle, and that one of them “had his hand in his front waistband pocket as if he had a handgun,” according to a police report.

As the off-duty officer got out of his vehicle, police said he told investigators “he produced a handgun and shot one of the suspects.” The report says the youth was struck once in the chest. The other juvenile ran away. It was not immediately clear if the youth who was shot was the same youth who had his hand in his pocket.

Police said in a statement they have the officer’s gun in their possession but did not recover any other weapon. Police said the officer legally owned his firearm and is cooperating with the investigation. ... Police identified the slain youth as Vernard Toney Jr., of Southeast Washington. A woman who identified herself as his grandmother, reached by phone on Sunday, declined to comment. ... The officials said the officer has not been arrested and is cooperating with authorities. He was not identified, and further details about who he was working for were not divulged. Police officials had previously described the off-duty officer as a security guard, known as special police officers. They later said he was a federal security officer — a role that does not need special police designation.

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Monika Mathur contributed to this report.

By Peter Hermann
Peter Hermann covers crime for The Washington Post. He previously worked for the Baltimore Sun for 22 years, covering a Baltimore suburb and then the Baltimore Police Department. Twitter https://twitter.com/phscoop

By Emily Davies
Emily Davies is a reporter covering crime and criminal justice in Washington, D.C. She started at The Washington Post as an intern in June 2019. Twitter https://twitter.com/ELaserDavies