THE THIN BLUE LINE
A D.C. library police officer, Maurica Manyan, was shot and killed by a retired D.C. police lieutenant, Jesse Porter, Thursday during a training exercise at a library branch in Southeast Washington, according to D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III.
The retired lieutenant was contracted by the Anacostia neighborhood library to provide training for some of its officers on how to use extendible batons. Contee said it was unclear why a live firearm was involved in the training but that “it is not good practice to do that.”
The D.C. Public Library is an independent city agency that has its own police department. Officers, who are licensed to be armed, are responsible for public safety at library locations, said spokesman George Williams
‘Thought I Had My Training Gun’
According to charging documents in the case, witnesses told investigators the class was finished for the day and photos were being taken. The mood was lighthearted and there had been joking throughout the day that the victim Maurica Manyan had been moving too slowly.
“They were all joking with the decedent that she was never ready,” according to one witness.
When the victim paused to take off her mask and adjust her hair for a picture, the former officer pulled a gun from his holster and pointed it at her. The gun went off.
Jesse Porter, 58, has been charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter and one count of negligence.
Witnesses said Porter had a brightly colored training gun — a replica — in his holster until the time of the shooting. Camera footage in the room where the shooting occurred matched what witnesses said occurred, the affidavit said.
Chief of Police Robert Contee said Friday that it’s unclear why Porter pulled out the loaded gun.
“There are props and firearm lookalikes that are in a training environment. They were present in this environment. But why and what kind of was in his mind at this time, I don’t know the answer to that,” he said.
