U Street Slaying Witness Frustrated by Police Response
Written by Jason Linkins
Editors Note: We have changed the title of the post to reflect the fact that the witness did not see the killing itself happen.
The Post reported as early as Wednesday that the Metropolitan Police Department is still looking for any information that could lead to an arrest in the slaying of Damon Ward, who was shot early Sunday morning, February 26. Ward, an architect from Arlington, Virginia, was apparently an innocent bystander struck by gunfire that erupted over a dispute over a parking space. According to the Post, the police have said that they have no leads at this point.
Puzzlingly, this may not be the truth.
D.C. resident Mark Jude Sullivan was sitting on the front porch of a house near the corner of 13th and U Streets, NW, speaking with a friend when he heard gunshots from around the corner. Seconds after he heard the shots fired, he witnessed "a small, brown/tan, late 70s/early 80s-model, boxy, four-door car wheeling around the corner from U Street onto 13th Street." According to Sullivan, "The car was full of people, very low on the road, and driving at breakneck speed on the wrong side of the road. It flew through the red light at 13th and V, at continued north on 13th. I thought it was strange that a shitty old car full of people could drive that fast. I figured it was a drunk driver until cops shut down U Street ten minutes later."
Sullivan was quick to offer his assistance as a witness to police when they arrived at the scene, but when he approached the police, they told him that they "had plenty of descriptions and that everyone was fine."
The next day, Sullivan learned that this was not the case—Ward had died and police were claiming to have no leads in the case. Sullivan attempted to contact Detective Kim Lawrence, listed on the police website as a contact for the case, and left a message describing what he had witnessed. He never heard back, and the next day, a new notice went out from the MPD restating the fact that the police were still looking for leads.
Sullivan called the number listed on the new press release, and was directed to the Synchronized Operations Command Center. However, when he began to explain that he had information of interest regarding the Damon Ward shooting, he was met with a "withering" response: "What are you talking about, and who do you think you've called?" He explained again that he had information about the shooting, and that this was the number the police had said to call. "Well, I don’t know about THAT," was the response, and Sullivan was put on hold.
After a time, he was transferred to another MPD detective, who listened to his story "without repeating back anything I said or asking me to explain anything in further detail." The detective then told him that his information was probably not of much use: "Okay, I've got what you said all down here. But I'm pretty sure it was probably an innocent passerby fleeing in a panic. A lot of people probably left the scene in a hurry if there was gunfire. If the police said they're looking for a truck, then it was probably a truck."
Sullivan says he was "a little stunned." He tried pointing out again to the detective that the police were claiming to not have a description of the vehicle or any solid leads at the time. Sullivan says that the detective "seemed unimpressed and got off the phone."
Sullivan made one last attempt to get his information to the police. On that attempt, he says that he did manage to finally speak to someone who "initially seemed to know what he was doing," repeating back his information and taking down Sullivan’s name and number. Though, according to Sullivan, at one point, the detective did ask, "Wait, which shooting is this again? I’ve got a bunch here."
For his part, Sullivan is unimpressed with the level of concern the police seemed to treat his information. "It makes you wish the police had a modicum of the bureaucratic efficiency currently on example at the city dump, when we couldn't drop off trash because a D.C. license apparently is not proof of residence in the city."
"If anyone of you want to commit a crime, our block is evidently the best place to get away with it."
Picture snapped by techne.