Photo by Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie.

More details are now emerging regarding an early morning shooting involving an off-duty police officer and three individuals, two of whom are transgender. The police officer involved in the incident, who has not been identified, has been arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon and driving while intoxicated — and LGBT advocates are planning an immediate response.

According to police, the arrested officer allegedly confronted a group of five people around 5:25 a.m. this morning at the intersection of First and Pierce Streets NW. The altercation soon mushroomed, and the officer shot one person; two other individuals were injured in the scuffle.

Chief Cathy Lanier’s presence at the site of the incident this morning would certainly seem to indicate that this was a big deal; it doesn’t come as a surprise that there are plans being made to immediately decry the crime. The DC Trans Coalition, for example, is planning a rally for 6 p.m. this evening where the shooting took place. From an email sent to media this afternoon:

Today, we were notified by the Metropolitan Police Department of a shooting involving transgender individuals in the area of First and Pierce Streets NW around 5:30 AM this morning. We are still attempting to gather information, but preliminary accounts indicate two vehicles collided at the site, one driven by an off-duty MPD officer, and the other containing five people, two of whom are trans. The off-duty officer fired his service weapon at the three people in the other car, hitting one victim three times, and one victim one time. Community activists have visited the two trans women in the hospital, where they were treated for non-life threatening injuries. We have learned that the shooter and at least one victim may have known each other previously, and had an altercation at a nearby store before the shooting, but we do not yet know the nature of their relationship.

We are gathering at 6PM at the site of the incident to demand accountability and transparency from MPD on the clear trend of transphobic and homophobic actions coming from its officers. This incident is just another in a long line of systemic violence that trans women, and particularly trans women of color, face on a daily basis. Many members of our community have noted that this summer has been particularly violent. MPD reports at least eight violent crimes against trans people this year, but service organizations have collected information about many more. This is also the second violent attack involving an off-duty MPD officer in the past ten months. Tonight we hope to draw attention to the police department’s complicity in the ongoing violence that our communities must confront. Please spread the word and join us at First and Pierce NW. This violence must not go unacknowledged.