25-year-old library officer fatally shot by retired officer who was training her, authorities say

A retired lieutenant has been charged in connection with the death of a 25-year-old D.C. library police officer following a training exercise at the Anacostia Library on August 4.

According to WUSA9, the retired police officer, identified as 58-year-old Jesse Porter, fatally shot Special Police Officer Maurica Manyan after an ASP Baton training program he had been contracted to undertake. 

The suspect allegedly drew the gun from his holster and opened fire after the 25-year-old officer removed her face mask to take a picture. Witnesses said the retired lieutenant probably thought the weapon he discharged was a dummy training gun.

In the aftermath of the shooting, a witness recalled Porter saying, “I thought I had my training gun. Why did I do this? Is she OK?”

But in a vigil on Sunday, Manyan’s family said Porter should have known better because of his experience as a retired police lieutenant. “What was his purpose of even pulling the gun out in a training? It didn’t matter that they had dummy guns,” Manyan’s cousin, Leo Richards, said. “There was no threat, there was no need for a weapon and why pull the trigger?”

Porter has since been charged with involuntary manslaughter. He was, however, released from custody on August 5 after he assured the court that he’ll be present for his next arraignment on August 24. He was also ordered to turn his firearms in. 

Douglass Morency, who is the DC Public Library system’s director of public safety, also tendered in his resignation hours after the fatal incident, NBC4 Washington reported. Officials, however, did not disclose why Morency stepped down.

“Since starting in February, Maurica was known in the Library for her warm, bubbly personality. Our thoughts are with Maurica’s family, and the DCPL family, especially our colleagues in the Office of Public Safety, as we mourn the loss of Maurica together,” the library system said in a statement.