A D.C. police officer shot and wounded a man who authorities said drove away from a homicide scene early Friday in Northwest Washington and refused commands to drop a firearm after a chase, according to a statement from authorities.

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       The 30-year-old man shot by police suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was being treated at a hospital, officials said in a statement. Police did not draw any links between that man and the homicide, which remains an open case with no arrests.

       It was the fourth time in two weeks a D.C. police officer shot somebody. District officers have shot 11 people this year, killing four. In 2020, D.C. officers shot six people, two of them fatally.

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       Friday’s incident began when officers responded shortly after midnight to reports of gunshots in the 900 block of Rittenhouse Street NW, near Fort Stevens and north of the Brightwood Park neighborhood.

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       Police Chief Robert J. Contee III told reporters that the officers found two men who had been shot. One had injuries that did not appear life-threatening; the other man, identified as 65-year-old Eyon Falby, died at the scene.

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       Contee said officers saw a man driving away from Rittenhouse Street in a red Kia SUV, traveling fast. He said that officers chased the vehicle and that it rammed a patrol car during a pursuit that lasted about two blocks.

       Contee said the SUV struck several parked cars and turned onto its side in the 6300 block of Ninth Street NW.

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       As officers tried to remove the man from the vehicle, they saw he was holding a gun, the chief said. Contee said that the man refused repeated commands to drop the gun and that one officer fired, striking the man.

       Police identified the man who was shot as Daron Barnes, 30, of Northwest Washington. He was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of a firearm without a permit, fleeing from law enforcement and a felon in possession of a gun. He was convicted in a robbery case in 2015.

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       Barnes remained hospitalized on Friday and did not make an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court. It could not be determined whether he has an attorney. Efforts to reach his family were unsuccessful.

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       A man who identified himself as Falby’s brother said the family did not wish to comment. His death brought the District’s homicide count to 141, a 14 percent increase over the same time period in 2020.

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