Former police lieutenant arrested in library officer’s shooting death

WASHINGTON — A retired police lieutenant has been arrested after police say he fatally shot a fellow law enforcement officer Thursday during a training exercise at a Washington, D.C., library.

Jesse Porter was at the end of a training exercise at a library in the district’s Anacostia neighborhood Thursday afternoon when he fired a weapon that struck 25-year-old Maurica Manyan, Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said Friday. The library officer was then rushed to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Porter was arrested on an involuntary manslaughter charge after police consulted with the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington. He remained in custody Friday and it wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Metropolitan Police said the 58-year-old retired lieutenant was working for a private contractor providing training for a group of library police officers on how to use expandable batons when he discharged a single shot from his firearm.

There were about six people in the room at the time, including other library police officers. 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.

At a news conference shortly after the shooting, Contee said it was unclear why Porter had a firearm during a training exercise. Generally, law enforcement agencies take strides 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 good practice to do this.”

The circumstances surrounding the shooting remained unclear and police said the investigation was still ongoing.