An off-duty FBI special agent shot and killed a person at Metro Center station on Wednesday night during the evening commute, prompting brief panic among riders and ultimately the closure of the key transit hub for about an hour.

Police said there was an “altercation” between the agent, who they also described as a “veteran FBI agent,” and another man on the Glenmont-bound Red Line platform at around 6:20 p.m.

The man shot and killed was Troy Bullock, 28, of Southeast D.C., according to a report from The Washington Post on Thursday.

Metropolitan Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict said preliminary video evidence showed that both people fell over a wall at the end of the platform, an 8-foot drop. The two continued to struggle after the fall, and the agent fired on the other person.

Benedict spoke to reporters at the scene on Wednesday night, a few hours after the incident took place.

Bullock was pronounced dead at the scene. The FBI agent was taken to an area hospital with minor injuries, which Benedict implied were related to the fall over the wall.

The Post also reported Thursday that police recovered a gun on Bullock’s body. It’s not clear if the agent knew Bullock had a firearm, or if Bullock showed it in any way. There are few details about what provoked the fight between the two men, or if any specific threat caused the agent to open fire.

D.C. police are leading the investigation of the shooting. The FBI said in a statement that the agency “takes any shooting incident involving our agents or task force members seriously,” and internal inspectors would review the shooting. The FBI Washington Field Office told WAMU/DCist on Thursday afternoon that the agent is still hospitalized, but did not comment on whether the agent will return to regular duty.

The gunshots provoked panic among rush-hour passengers, including what some eyewitnesses called “a stampede” out of the station. Passengers on one Red Line train heard gunfire as their train slowed down to enter Metro Center — and some said they hit the floor of the train car as the operator sped up to skip the station.

Metro General Manager Randy Clarke tweeted his appreciation for the train operator’s split-second decision-making.

“Really grateful for the quick reaction & thoughtful attention by our rail operator tonight whose response during tonight’s police-involved shooting at @wmata Metro Center kept customers from potential danger,” he said.

After another shooting at Benning Road Thursday morning, Clarke lamented that America’s gun problem is spilling into Metro.

“Metro is not immune to what’s happening,” Clarke said at Metro’s board meeting. “I’ve said this before, we need people held accountable, that are doing violent crimes, and they should be held to the full extent of the law.

He said Metro has increased police patrols by 25% since he arrived, but says it would be impossible to have police everywhere. He also insisted Metro is safe for passengers.

“You’re safe — simple,” he said. “There are feelings and emotions around that, but we are safe and if you look at the statistical probability of actually having an incident on Metro it’s incredibly, incredibly small.”

Customers who had been on the train replied to express their gratitude. “She deserves commendation and has my deepest appreciation that I was able to get home safely to my family last night,” one man wrote.

Red Line trains single-tracked through Metro Center following the shooting, while police investigated the scene. Metro said service was fully restored before rush hour on Thursday, though was interrupted later in the morning on the Blue and Silver lines due to another shooting, this one at Benning Road Station. (WAMU and DCist will follow up on that shooting and provide updates here as needed.)

The shooting comes just days after another off-duty FBI agent was acquitted of attempted murder charges in a 2020 shooting of a panhandler on a Red Line train near Medical Center.

This story has been updated to include the name of the person shot, comments from WMATA General Manager Randy Clarke, and additional information from the FBI.