An off-duty FBI agent shot and killed a person during a fight inside the Metro Center Metro station, according to D.C. police.
The agent got in a fight with the other person before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, and the two of them fell about an 8-foot drop over a wall away from the tracks at the end of the platform, police said. The struggle continued, and shots were fired, an initial investigation found.
“Shots were fired by an off-duty, veteran special agent assigned to FBI headquarters,” Executive Assistant Chief of Police Ashan Benedict said.
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The person who was shot, identified on Thursday as 28-year-old Troy Bullock of Southeast D.C., was pronounced dead, police said. Police say Bullock also had a gun, and a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told News4 a 6-inch knife belonging to the suspect was found.
The FBI agent, who was not identified publicly by authorities, was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, police said.
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Metro Center resumed normal operations, Metro said Thursday morning. There is no threat to the Metro system.
'It was very scary; I have never seen anything like it'
Witness Lisa Crawford said she was on her phone like many other riders when her train pulled into Metro Center and she looked up.
"It was like a zombie movie,” she said. “People were running for their lives."
Crawford said she yelled, "Everybody get down! Active shooter!"
"I was screaming at the top of my lungs," she said.
Crawford, who said she teaches math at a school near the White House, said an active shooter training video shown at work about a week ago gave her the strength to do it.
"And then the train took off," she said.
When the train got to Gallery Place, people started helping others get up and the train operator told everyone to get off the train, Crawford said.
"People just ran out the train," she said.
She and others eventually got back on the train and continued their commutes.
"It was very scary; I have never seen anything like it," Crawford said.
DC police, FBI investigate
The Metropolitan Police Department is leading the investigation with the FBI’s cooperation, Benedict said.
"The FBI takes any shooting incident involving our agents or task force members seriously," the FBI Washington Field Office said in a statement.
Investigators processed the scene and interviewed witnesses.
'Gun problem in America'
Metro General Manager Randy Clarke said Thursday shootings in the transit system are the result of the "gun problem in America."
"I don't think this is being political in any nature: We have a gun problem in America," Clarke said. "That's not Metro's problem. We are impacted by that."
"I'm really tired of it," Clarke said, expressing frustration and sadness about the calls he's fielded after violent incidents. "The biggest thing in this job is, what happens when you get a phone call when one of your employees or customers gets killed?"
He went on to praise the actions of the train operator who "sped through that station after she got word ... and kept people out of danger" during the Metro Center shooting, and reassured riders that they are safe on Metro trains and platforms.
