FBI agent fired ‘multiple shots’ in incident with fellow Metro passenger, transit police say

Metro Transit Police on Friday said that an FBI agent involved in a shooting on a train in Maryland on Tuesday fired his weapon “several times,” leaving a passenger hospitalized with gunshot wounds. 

Metro police announced the finding following a review of train video cameras, which apparently showed an adult male approaching an FBI agent as the Metrorail car pulled into Medical Center Station near Montgomery County, Md., early Tuesday morning. 

Following a verbal exchange between the two men, “multiple shots were fired by the agent, striking the passenger,” according to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s press release. 

Montgomery County Police, the National Institutes of Health Division of Police, Metro Transit Police, the FBI and paramedics responded to the scene at the train station, from which the victim was taken to a local hospital. 

As of Friday, the wounded passenger was in stable condition, the release added. 

“This matter is an active criminal investigation, and we are working closely with the Montgomery County, Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office,” Metro Transit Police Chief Ronald Pavlik Jr. said in a statement. “We are continuing to collect and process evidence, including conducting interviews, to determine what happened on that train.

“We are committed to transparency and releasing as many facts as we can without compromising this criminal investigation,” Pavlik continued, adding that the department plans on issuing another update Monday. 

When contacted by The Hill, the FBI said it did not have any additional comments on the incident beyond its Tuesday statement, which stated that, “the FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents seriously.”

“In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under investigation by the FBI’s Inspection Division,” the statement continued. “The review process is thorough and objective and is conducted as expeditiously as possible under the circumstances. As this remains an on-going matter, the FBI has no further comment.”

Trains on Tuesday morning were briefly forced to bypass the station located near the National Institutes of Health and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, but it reopened shortly after 9:30 a.m.