Washington DC gunman arrested after shooting three police officers and barricading home in 12-hour standoff

Three police officers in Washington DC were shot as they attempted to serve an arrest warrant for cruelty to animals, authorities said, while residents in the area were relocated from their homes after the suspect barricaded himself in.

The suspect, who was identified Wednesday night as 46-year-old Julius James of Southeast, DC, was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals. Charges for the assault on the officers are pending, officials said in a news release.

Mr James was barricaded in a house in the 5000 block of Hanna Place Southeast near Benning Road, police said at a press conference on Wednesday. Multiple loud gunshots could be heard, captured on neighbours’ home security systems.

Authorities say that around 7.30am the individual “refused to come outside” and as officers “attempted to gain entry, the individual fired upon them.”

During an afternoon update conference MPD Chief of Police Pamela Smith situation told reporters that the situation was ongoing with crisis negotiators speaking to the suspect. She later confirmed that the individual had shot officers through the door.

“Sometimes he’s up, sometimes he’s down, but we’re still in communication with the suspect,” she said. The situation had not changed by 6.30pm ET.

Speaking earlier Ms Smith said: “This remains an active situation, and the individual has continued to fire from that location. We are asking everyone to please stay out of this location until we are able to apprehend the suspect.”

The three officers who were shot suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to the hospital, while a fourth officer, who was not shot, was also hospitalised. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the three officers would likely be “just fine.”

“But it goes to show you how important it is to support our police, to make sure we’re hiring the best of the best police, to make sure as a community if we see something wrong, we call MPD, because MPD is going to show up for us every single time,” Ms Bowser said.

She later added that she had visited with the officers and that they were in good spirits.

When asked if any animals were inside the building with the suspect at an evening news conference, Ms Smith became frustrated. “I don’t want it to be lost on anyone today that we’ve had three officers who were shot,” she said. “Three of our officers were shot today serving an arrest warrant on someone who was cruel to animals.”

According to CNN, nearly a dozen pit bulls were inside the residence.

A Humane Rescue Alliance employee was with police as they tried to serve the warrant but was not hurt during the incident, the group said.

“Our thoughts are with our partners at MPD who are being treated in the hospital and we are wishing them all the best in their recovery,” the group said in a statement

“We could not fulfill our mission without them. We are also concerned for the safety of the officers who remain on scene, the community members who continue to be affected, and the animals whom we were there to protect.”

Roads were closed and schools were locked down in the southeast part of the city and police warned people to stay far from the area as the shooting unfolded.

Two nearby elementary schools were on lockdown amid the shooting, with eye-witnesses reporting seeing police escorting students into a nearby charter school, per NBC Washington. The charter school was closed early.

Some residents described how the incident unfolded, and said that the police needed to have “better communication and relationships” with those living in the neighbourhood.

One woman told Fox5: “I don’t live too far, I heard a lot of the sirens - that was concerning. At the point that the sirens didn’t stop I came outside to understand what’s going on.

“From my understanding the person who has caused all this commotion has not been caught. Why is this happening? Why did the individual feel the need to shoot the police? ... just why? There’s a lot of whys.”

She continued: “Things do happen like this, not necessarily the police getting shot but people getting shot and when they do, we have never had the street shut down like this. We have never had 100 police officers telling us we cannot leave the area.

“We have never had this for our citizens who got shot. So this is a matter for the police, they’re handling their own.”

Asked what she thought the solution was to such situations, the woman added: “I think that the police really need to have a better approach.

“I’m not saying that the citizens don’t cause no harm... but I do think the police need to have a better approach so that people understand when the police come [they] are not coming to lock you up, they are not coming to harass you... [they are] coming to help you, [they are] coming to understand the problem and how [they] can really be a solution.

“The police need to have better communication and relationships with the citizens, it’s too hostile.”

The incident comes as the District of Columbia is struggling with a sharp increase in violent crime, which went up 39 per cent in 2023. It was largely fueled by a 35 per cent rise in homicides and growth in carjackings, which nearly doubled.

Chief Smith has previously pushed lawmakers to pass legislation that would strengthen penalties for gun offences in the nation’s capital.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “This shooting is yet another distressing and painful reminder of the toll gun violence is inflicting on families, on our communities and, obviously, on our nation.”

Ms Jean-Pierre said Joe Biden was praying for the officers to make full recoveries and called for more congressional action on guns.