An off-duty D.C. police sergeant who worked on the force for 17 years was shot and killed in west Baltimore Saturday morning, police said.
Sgt. Tony Mason Jr., 40, was sitting in parked car on the 2800 block of Elgin Avenue with a 43-year-old woman when an unknown person approached the car and began shooting, police said.
The shooter then ran away, police said.
"I heard like six gunshots," said a woman who asked not to be identified. "After I heard the gunshots, I looked out the window and the police came."
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Police arrived on the scene after 12:45 a.m. and found both Mason and the woman suffering from bullet wounds.
Mason was hit in the body, and the woman was hit in the leg, police said.
Both were taken to the hospital, where Mason died from his injuries. Police did not specify the woman's condition.
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Mason was a sergeant in the D.C. police's sixth district, police told News4. He was on non-contact status due to an "internal investigation," D.C. police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said, meaning his police powers were revoked and he was assigned to administrative duties.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she has been in close contact with D.C. Police Chief Pete Newsham.
“We support the investigators and we want to get to the bottom of what happened, certainly, for his family and the people of that neighborhood,” she said.
David Simonetti, the director of the police academy at Hagerstown Community College, told the Baltimore Sun he worked with Mason from 2004 to 2009 and described him as a tough, diligent officer.
"He was just the nicest guy -- always happy to see you and greeted you with a smile," Simonetti said. "He'd do anything for you, without having to be asked."
Mason's killing came amid a push by activists for a weekend cease-fire in Baltimore, which has been in the throes of a crime surge for more than two years.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.
Stay with News4 for more on this developing story.
