A National Guard member and a gunman were wounded late Sunday during an exchange of gunfire on a Washington sidewalk after military personnel attempted to stop a street brawl, according to law enforcement officials.
The confrontation occurred shortly after 11 p.m. in the Capitol Hill neighborhood near Eastern Market, along the 400 block of 8th Street SE, the Metropolitan Police Department stated. Seven or eight Guard members riding in a van noticed an altercation underway on the sidewalk and stopped to intervene, Interim Police Chief Jeffrey Carroll said during a media briefing.
Gunfire Erupts on Capitol Hill
As the service members approached to halt the fighting, an individual involved in the dispute pulled out a handgun, Carroll said. The Guard members issued direct orders instructing the man to drop the firearm, but the suspect instead aimed the weapon at them and fired, according to police.
Three members of the National Guard returned fire, Carroll told reporters. One Guard member suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. Accounts from authorities and news organizations differed on where the suspect was hit: ABC News and the New York Post reported that the suspect was struck in the abdomen, while CBS News reported the individual was wounded in the leg.
Both the injured Guard member and the suspect were transported to nearby medical facilities. Their injuries were determined to be non-life-threatening, and both individuals are expected to survive, Carroll said. The suspect was taken into police custody.
Heightened Presence and Ongoing Inquiries
Metropolitan police investigators emphasized that the incident posed no continuing danger to the community. However, detectives are working to identify and interview other participants who fled the initial fight, seeking to establish what sparked the late-night brawl.
The confrontation took place amid an expanded military footprint across the nation’s capital. As CBS News reported, the National Guard was assigned to Washington more than a year ago as part of an effort by President Donald Trump to curb crime in the city.
The incident also follows earlier violence directed at troops stationed in the district. In November 2025, two service members deployed to the city were fatally shot in an ambush near the White House, CBS News reported. A 29-year-old man, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was later indicted on multiple federal counts, including murder, and has entered a plea of not guilty in that case.
Metropolitan police said the motive behind Sunday night’s sidewalk altercation remains under investigation. Authorities have not yet publicly released the identities of the wounded service member or the suspect, and formal charges against the shooter are pending the conclusion of initial investigative interviews.
