National Guard member shot while trying to break up fight in DC

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - A National Guard member who attempting to break up a fight near the U.S. Capitol was shot and injured on Sunday night, police said.

Interim D.C. police chief Jeff Carroll said the shooting happened around 11:10 p.m. while guard members were sitting in a parked van in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. When the fight began on the street, guard members got out of van and tried to intervene. Carroll said a man involved in the fight then pulled out a gun.

“Members of the National Guard immediately gave commands to that individual to put down the gun,” Carroll said. “That individual then pointed the weapon towards the National Guard members who returned fire at that individual.”

Police said three guard members discharged their weapons during the shooting, striking the man. One of the guard members was also struck in the leg.

Both the suspect and the service member were taken to a local hospital.

Later on Monday afternoon, the police department said in a statement that 41-year-old Jerrell Jackson, of Southeast D.C., was arrested in connection with the shooting. He was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault on a police officer and emergency personnel, carrying a pistol without a license and felon in possession of a firearm.

On Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for the National Guard task force assigned to the Washington D.C. deployment, Joint Task Force – District of Columbia, said that the guard member who was injured had been released from the hospital. The spokesperson also said that the injured service member was from the Georgia Army National Guard.

The incident happened about 11 months after two National Guard members were shot near the White House. One of the service members died, a day after the the shooting.

The National Guard has been deployed to the streets of Washington since August 2025, following President Donald Trump’s declaration of a crime emergency.