D.C. police said five people were arrested overnight Monday as part of a mob that ransacked businesses in different parts of the city hours after authorities released footage of a fatal police shooting last week.
The Metropolitan Police Department said looters hit storefronts in Georgetown, Logan Circle, the H Street Corridor, Columbia Heights and the luxury retailers in downtown’s City Center. Police said a total of six burglaries and six destruction of property offenses took place in those neighborhoods, police said.
Those arrested were charged with burglary and fleeing from law enforcement. Authorities did not identify any of them.
Videos posted on social media showed damage to high-end retailers such as Gucci, Arc’Teryx and Morgenthal Frederics.
Similar videos observed police swarming downtown and an MPD helicopter shining a spotlight on a band of people marching through the city’s core.
A chant captured by independent photojournalist Anthony Peltier appeared to say, “Don’t shoot, I’m sleep.”
The looting broke out after the MPD released body camera footage of officers fatally shooting an armed man early on Sept. 1.
Police said they encountered Justin Robinson, a convicted felon who worked as a violence interrupter for the city, after he crashed his car into a McDonald’s restaurant in the 2500 block of Marion Barry Avenue Southeast.
The footage shows officers approaching the car and noticing that Robinson was unconscious with a gun in his lap. When Robinson awakes about 10 minutes later, officers order him to put his hands up.
Police walk toward the driver’s side door with guns drawn and shout orders at Robinson, the footage shows. Robinson appears to put one hand up but keeps his other hand at his side.
The officer whose body camera footage was released can be heard saying, “Sir, don’t touch the gun,” as police try to open the driver’s side door.
The officer appears to reach through the open window to try to grab the weapon. Robinson can be seen gripping the barrel of the officer’s pistol. Police open fire moments later.
Robinson, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation, and as you talk about it being tough for the family, tough for the officers, but it’s also tough on the community,” Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said Monday evening during a press conference.
The chief said Robinson’s family initially refused to have the body camera footage released when they viewed it a day after the shooting. Over the weekend, she said, a family attorney contacted MPD and said they supported the footage being made publicly available.
Chief Smith said the officers involved have been placed on leave while the department investigates the incident.
Robinson worked as a violence interrupter with the Cure the Streets program through the D.C. attorney general’s office. He pleaded guilty in 2018 to assault with intent to kill. Prosecutors said he egged on the killing of a man with whom he had a spat.
Court documents said a then-teenage Robinson and Demetrius Medlay, 22, were arguing at a market in Southeast in February 2016. Robinson left the market and returned minutes later, argued with Medlay and waved a firearm at him before driving off, the filing said.
Robinson returned to the area again soon afterward, pointed out Medlay to his accomplice, Kevin Grover, and told Grover that “you can smoke him.” Grover fatally shot Medlay moments later.
Robinson was given a five-year sentence in 2018.
An MPD source told The Washington Times that, as a convicted felon, Robinson could not legally own a gun in the District.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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