A retired Washington DC police lieutenant has been arrested on a manslaughter charge after he shot and killed a library cop during a baton training exercise on Thursday, police said.
Jesse Porter, 58, was wrapping up a training session in a conference room at the Anacostia Neighborhood Library just after 3:30 pm. when he fired a shot that struck 25-year-old Maurica Manyan, the DC Metropolitan Police Department said.
The public library special police officer, from lndian Head, Maryland, was rushed to an area hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
An investigation revealed that Porter, who retired as a Metro PD lieutenant in 2020 and was working as a private contractor, was providing instruction on the use of retractable batons to library officers when he allegedly fired the shot that killed Manyan.
A firearm was recovered on scene, police said.
There were about six people in the conference room at the time, including other library police officers, but no one else was hurt.
The city’s public library system has its own force of full-time special police officers who can be armed and are responsible for ensuring the safety and security of the library branches.
Porter was arrested on an involuntary manslaughter charge after police consulted with the US attorney’s office in Washington. He remained in custody on Friday.
At a news conference shortly after the shooting, DC Metro Police Chief Robert Contee said it was unclear why Porter was armed with a gun during the training exercise.
Generally, law enforcement agencies take stride to ensure trainers and participants do not have access to live ammunition or actual firearms during training programs, to avoid the possibility of accidental gunfire.
“It’s not good practice,” Contee said. “I’m not sure in this situation why the trainer had a live weapon in the training environment. But it is not a good practice to do this.”
Police did not say why Porter fired his weapon, but unnamed sources told NBC4 that the retired cop allegedly drew his gun to show how quickly it could be done and discharged the live round that hit Manyan in the chest.
With Post wires
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