D.C. police investigating Monday’s fatal shooting of a man inside a tent at a homeless encampment at Thomas Circle said Wednesday they have grown more unsure of what happened and are seeking to interview a person seen running away.

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       While police initially classified the shooting of 32-year-old Emmanuel Lys a homicide, officials said at a community meeting Wednesday that detectives have not ruled out a suicide. Police also said it is possible that a person shot Lys in the neck in self-defense or that his death was an accident.

       Authorities said a firearm recovered outside the tent was the weapon used in the killing, which occurred about 9:45 a.m. on a median strip at 14th Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW, on the east side of the circle.

       D.C. Police Cmdr. James M. Boteler, who heads the Third District station, said at the Zoom meeting with concerned residents: “We don’t know the exact circumstances of how that firearm went off.”

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       Boteler added that police “don’t know if it was a suicide. We don’t know if there was malicious intent.” He said the person being sought “was present at the tent when the firearm went off and we want to speak to him.” That person’s identity has not been disclosed.

       Man fatally shot at Thomas Circle homeless encampment

       The hour-long meeting was organized by the DowntownDC Business Improvement District after residents who live in the area complained that the encampment had posed health and safety risks for months. Many asked why someone had to be killed to spur District officials to remove the encampment.

       In the Zoom text chat during the meeting, some residents complained of being harassed and of witnessing crimes, while others said conditions in the small encampment were also dangerous for those living there. One person questioned whether those moved out by the city after the shooting received the help they had been promised.

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       Debra Kilpatrick Byrd, director of homeless services for the improvement district, said that about 16 people inhabited the encampment over the past three months that and six were still there after the shooting when police arrived. She said that housing was found for three of them and that the other three were benefiting from outreach programs. Officials said some may have moved to another encampment a few blocks away.

       Efforts to contact Lys’s family in Malden in suburban Boston have been unsuccessful. Price said it appears Lys had been at the encampment for some time and was known to some outreach workers.

       Police Cmdr. Duncan Bedlion, who heads the Second District, which also includes part of Thomas Circle, said the encampment has been on police radar for while. He said officers have made 35 arrests in the past four months and confiscated narcotics and firearms.

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       Bedlion said that in one case, a man brandished a gun at a nearby convenience store and hid the weapon in a tent. He also said people who did not live in the encampment used the tents to hide weapons and contraband.

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       “It has been challenging,” the commander said.

       Police said they work closely with the D.C. Department of Human Services on when to take action against encampments. Boteler described a delicate balance.

       “We all want to be empathetic to folks’ needs, both who are residing in some of these encampments and the residents affected by them,” the commander said. “There is a very fine line we have to walk … to make sure we’re helping everybody.”

       But Boteler said “no camping” signs have been posted at the park, and he told residents to report any attempts to try to reestablish an encampment.

       “Removal will be fast,” Boteler said. “We do not want to let this spur back up again.”