Former DC police Sergeant sentenced for fatally shooting man sleeping in car

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — A former Sergeant with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) will spend five years in prison for fatally shooting a man while he was asleep in a car three years ago.

Enis Jervic, 42, pleaded guilty in February to violating 27-year-old An’Twan Gilmore’s constitutional rights by using deadly force.

Shortly before 3 a.m. on Aug. 25, 2021, Jervic and 17 other MPD officers responded to the intersection of New York Avenue and Florida Avenue Northeast.

There, Gilmore was asleep in the driver’s seat of a car stopped at the intersection.

As officers approached the car, they noticed Gilmore had a gun in his waistband, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO).

About 10 minutes after getting to the scene and clearing the avenues of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, Jervic went up to the car and directed another officer to knock on the window to wake him up. When Gilmore woke up, the car moved forward several feet, stopped briefly and then moved forward again.

As it moved for a second time, Jervic fired four times.

He continued firing six more times as the car rolled down New York Avenue.

Three of Jervic’s shots struck Gilmore, who died a short time later from his wounds.

When officers pulled the bleeding, unresponsive and unconscious man from the car, they noticed Gilmore’s gun was in the same spot: tucked into his waistband, underneath his buckled seat belt.

As part of Jervic’s guilty plea, the former officer admitted he had displayed unconstitutional, unreasonable force and that he acted willfully, in reckless disregard of Gilmore’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from excessive force by police.

He also admitted his conduct created an “extreme risk of death to Mr. Gilmore and was a gross deviation from a reasonable standard of care,” the USAO wrote.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.