Date: 2024-09-05T12:37:55.392Z
Location: www.washingtonpost.com
The man who police allege discarded a gun that went off while a veteran police officer tried to retrieve it from a storm drain in Northeast Washington, fatally wounding the officer last week, surrendered to police overnight, according to the department’s spokesman.
Tyrell Lamonte Bailey, 27, has been charged in a warrant with unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction, according to D.C. police.
It could not immediately be determined whether Bailey would make a court appearance Thursday, or whether he has an attorney. Further details of the arrest and where it occurred were not immediately available. Police spokesman Paris Lewbel, who confirmed Bailey’s surrender and arrest, did not provide other details.
Authorities said they have linked the gun, which they allege Bailey put in the drain during a police pursuit along D.C. Route 295 on Aug. 28, to the death of Wayne David, a police officer who died shortly after he was struck by a bullet from that firearm.
David, 51, was a member of the violent crime suppression team, which is largely responsible for seizing and collecting illegal firearms in the District. The 25-year veteran was among the original members of the gun recovery unit, and he had worked in the unit beyond his retirement age.
Police said officers first noticed Bailey in the early evening hours of Aug. 28 exiting a vehicle parked in an alley along Quarles Street in the Kenilworth neighborhood of Northeast Washington. Officers deemed him suspicious and approached him, police said, without elaborating. They said that he ran and that they chased him.
Police allege that Bailey ran along the southbound lanes of Route 295 and dropped the firearm down a storm drain. Police said he then ran across the busy highway, went through a gap in median strip fencing and got onto the back of a motorcycle stopped in northbound traffic. The driver of that motorcycle took off, police said.
Police called David to the scene to retrieve the firearm, which was seen two to three feet down the storm drain. Officers were unable to remove the grate, according to two public safety officials familiar with the investigation. Those officials said David used a metal tool typically used to unlock car doors to reach the weapon when it suddenly discharged, striking him in the head. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that is still being investigated.
Police said Tuesday that the firearm was a black Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol. D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said that its serial number had been scratched off and that officials were working to determine whether the gun is linked to other crimes.
On Saturday, police said they had located the motorcyclist but did not arrest him. They declined to describe his alleged role; after the shooting, police said they did not know whether the driver knew the man who fled. They said no carjacking was reported.
David was the sixth D.C. police officer to die in the line of duty since 2007 and the first to be fatally shot since 2004, according to online department records. He had a son and a daughter, and a brother who retired from the D.C. police force.
Colleagues have spoken glowingly about the officer, noting his calm temperament and ever-present smile. An assistant police chief said David had probably seized or recovered more illegal firearms than anyone else on the force.
Colleagues described David as a quiet, unassuming fixture on the force who was passionate about his job. He trained many of the current leaders in the department and mentored youths.
David’s funeral is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 12 at Ebenezer AME Church in Prince George’s County.