Former Metropolitan Police Department Sergeant Enis Jevric was sentenced to five years in federal prison after admitting he used unconstitutional deadly force during the 2021 shooting death of 27-year-old An’Twan Gilmore.
The shooting happened shortly before 3:00 a.m. on August 25, 2021, at the intersection of New York Avenue and Florida Avenue NE in Washington, D.C. Officers responded to a report of a man asleep in a stopped vehicle. They found Gilmore asleep in the driver’s seat with a handgun tucked into his waistband.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, officers remained on scene for about ten minutes and cleared nearby traffic before attempting to wake Gilmore. Jevric directed another officer to knock on the vehicle’s windows.
When Gilmore awoke, the vehicle moved forward several feet, briefly stopped, and then moved again. As the car rolled forward, Jevric fired four shots into the vehicle. He then fired six additional rounds as the vehicle continued down New York Avenue. No other officer fired a weapon.
Three of Jevric’s bullets struck Gilmore, who died from his injuries. After officers stopped the vehicle, Gilmore’s handgun remained tucked into his waistband beneath his buckled seat belt.
Federal prosecutors charged Jevric with violating Gilmore’s constitutional rights through the use of excessive force, and District of Columbia prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter. On February 23, 2024, Jevric pleaded guilty to both offenses.
As part of his guilty plea, Jevric admitted that he used unconstitutional and unreasonable deadly force, acted in reckless disregard of Gilmore’s Fourth Amendment rights, and created an extreme risk of death that represented a gross deviation from a reasonable standard of care.
On August 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Jevric had been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.
Local reporting noted that body camera footage showed Gilmore waking in apparent confusion before the shooting, and that no other officers at the scene believed deadly force was necessary. WTOP reported that former Police Chief Robert Contee previously stated the shooting was inconsistent with department policy.
The case ended with a rare federal civil rights conviction against an on-duty police officer, a guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter, and a prison sentence stemming from the fatal shooting of a man who had been asleep in his vehicle when officers first encountered him.
