WASHINGTON — Editor's note: Agents with the Metropolitan Police Department's (MPD) Force Investigations Team on Saturday, April 23, released the identity of the person killed by a Secret Service officer. The suspect has been identified as 19-year-old Gordon Casey, of Germantown, Maryland. The article that follows is the original story from the day of the incident.
A man armed with a metal stake seen smashing windows at the Peruvian ambassador's residence was shot and killed by Secret Service uniformed officers Wednesday morning.
In a press conference following the shooting, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee III said members of the United States Secret Service uniformed division were called to the residence in the 3000 block of Garrison Street Northwest for a reported burglary in progress. Contee said the ambassador and his family were home at the time and called officers when they heard windows being smashed at the back of the residence.
According to the U.S. Secret Service's website, uniformed division officers "provide physical security for the White House Complex and the Vice President’s residence at the Naval Observatory. It also provides security for the Treasury Department building and foreign diplomatic missions in Washington, D.C."
When officers arrived on the scene, they encountered a man in his 20s or 30s holding a metal stake, Contee said.
The man approached the officers with the stake and officers fired Tasers at the man. Contee said that when the Tasers had no effect, two Secret Service officers fired their service weapons. The armed man was pronounced dead at the scene.
MPD is working with the Secret Service on the investigation, which Contee said was a "very fluid situation." At this time, Contee said it's not clear if the man knew he was breaking into the residence of an ambassador.
No one inside the residence was hurt.
Contee said this type of situation is rare.
"We don’t see these types of incidents around here. This is totally out of the ordinary," Contee said.
The Embassy of Peru sent out a statement saying everyone inside the residence was safe.
"The Ambassador, his family, the Residential staff, and the secret service agents are safe, and the fact is being investigated by the competent authorities," the embassy said.