A National Guard member was shot in the leg late Sunday in Washington, D.C., after a group of Guard troops got out of their van to break up a fight on a Capitol Hill sidewalk, police said.
The man police say opened fire was also shot when Guard members fired back. Both are expected to survive. Fox News, the New York Post and The Washington Times reported the shooting early Monday.
What police said
Metropolitan Police Department Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll laid out the account at a news conference early Monday.
- When and where: The shooting happened at about 11:10 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, or 10:10 p.m. Central, in the Eastern Market neighborhood of Capitol Hill. The fight broke out on the sidewalk outside a business.
- The Guard response: Seven or eight Guard members were sitting in a van when they saw the fight and got out to stop it.
- The shots: A man involved in the fight pulled out a gun and began shooting, Carroll said. Three Guard members fired their weapons.
- The injuries: The Guard member was hit in the leg. The suspect was hit in the abdomen. Carroll said both injuries were not life-threatening, and both were taken to area hospitals.
“The National Guard members told the individual to drop the firearm. He discharged a round at the National Guard members who returned fire at that suspect,” Carroll told reporters, according to the Post.
What is still unknown
Police did not release the names of the Guard member or the suspect. Investigators are still working out what started the fight, and police want to talk with anyone who was involved in it. Police said there is no further threat to the public.
The Guard in Washington
Guard troops have been deployed in the capital since August 2025 under Joint Task Force – District of Columbia, which supports the city police. Soldiers from the South Carolina Army National Guard patrolled near the Eastern Market Metro station, in the same neighborhood as Sunday’s shooting, in September 2025, Guard photo records show.
Guard members have been targeted in the city before. On Nov. 26, 2025, two West Virginia Guard members were shot near the Farragut Square Metro station. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died the next day, the D.C. National Guard said.
Sources: Metropolitan Police Department news conference, Oct. 19, 2026, as reported by Fox News, the New York Post and The Washington Times; D.C. National Guard.
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