A Pentagon police officer who was off duty shot dead two men on Wednesday morning who he believed were breaking into a car in the parking lot of an apartment building in Maryland, authorities said.
The officer, a member of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, opened fire outside the Takoma Overlook Condominiums in Takoma Park shortly after 5 a.m., according to police.
He “engaged” the men “who did not follow his directions,” before shooting them as they attempted to flee in a car, according to a Takoma Park police press release.
Both men were taken to a regional hospital where they died. Police identified them Thursday as Dominique Williams, 32 and 38-year-old James Johnson.
The Pentagon officer told investigators he thought there was a gun for the men’s escape vehicle, a source told The Washington Post.
The officer has since been placed on administrative leave, the newspaper reports.
Johnson’s aunt, Denise Johnson, condemned the shooting.
“It’s wrong how he was killed,” she told the newspaper. “I’m just devastated what happened.”
Local activists are calling on Takoma Park police to release phone calls and camera images of the responding agents.
“This was a wrongful shooting,” Seth Grimes, an activist with the Silver Spring Justice Coalition, told WJLA.
“This is not someone trained to interact with community members. But this case illustrates why we need transparency [and] use of rules of force for police officers. “