The gun battle that took place in broad daylight on Wednesday began when several Park Police officers tried to stop a man for a drug violation -- leading to a shootout between that man and one officer who was eventually shot.
News4 has learned that the man allegedly involved, Turell Campbell, had a lengthy criminal history in the District, including a murder charge that was later dropped.
Campbell, age 30, was also shot when gunfire was exchanged near the D.C. Convention Center. He later died at the hospital.
Court records show a man by the same name was charged with murder back in 2015. That deadly shooting happened in the Bellevue neighborhood in Southwest D.C., and Campbell was charged with killing 25-year-old Isiah Agyekum.
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Court documents also show that the the murder charge against Turell Campbell was later dismissed, due to an unspecified "government witness availability issue."
His previous criminal record didn't end in 2015.
In 2019, Turell Campbell was charged with selling crack cocaine in Penn Quarter.
Then, in 2020, he was charged with threatening to shoot a D.C. Housing Authority police officer.
Both of those charges were later dropped by prosecutors.
Also in 2020, Turrell Campbell was arrested again on gun and drug charges. He pled guilty to the drug charges in Dec. 2022, and the gun charge was dropped, leading to an 18 month probation sentence in February of this year.
He was still probation on Wednesday, when he allegedly opened fire on that Park Police officer. That officer was shot multiple times, and is still recovering in the hospital, Park Police told News4.
Police promise to release the body camera footage from the shooting within 30 days.
