D.C. officials this week identified a police sergeant who fatally shot a man last week after police said he pointed what appeared to be a rifle at officers at the entrance to his apartment in Northwest Washington.
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Sgt. Jonathan Nelson, a 12-year veteran assigned to the Third District, has been placed on routine administrative leave during the investigation. Efforts to reach Nelson were not successful.
The identity of the officer, along with video from his body camera that shows the killing, were publicly released Wednesday. The man who was killed had earlier been identified as George D. Watson, 34, who lived in the 1400 block of V Street NW.
Police said they were called to that address about 7 p.m. on Aug. 31 for a report of man on a balcony with a gun. A woman who called 911 said it appeared Watson was pointing a firearm toward the street.
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Authorities said officers confronted Watson and talked to him multiple times to try to de-escalate the situation near the entrance to his apartment. The video shows several officers at Watson’s door, one holding a ballistic shield, another with a rifle.
The video shows Watson appearing agitated when officers knock on his door. Nelson asks him if he needs any assistance, to which Watson replies: “I don’t want to talk to you all. Back up.”
Watson comes to the door and talks with the officers, and then goes back inside and closes the door, the video shows. He then returns with what appears to be a long gun and sticks it out the door at the officers, according to the video. Nelson then fires several shots, fatally striking Watson.
The object that Watson was holding turned out to be a nonlethal pellet gun that resembled a rifle. Police said an officer was shot in the hand during the encounter but have declined to elaborate on how the injury occurred.
A relative of Watson, reached Wednesday, declined to comment.