DC police officer injured in shooting that left two women injured

The incident occurred shortly before 11:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of Canal Street SW, near M Street and a few blocks from Nationals Park.

In a statement, police said officers were monitoring a late-night basketball game on courts adjacent to the King-Greenleaf Recreation Center. Police said they heard gunshots as the game ended.

Police said one woman was found shot and taken to a hospital. Authorities said another woman suffered a gunshot wound and went to the hospital alone. She told them she had also been shot on Canal Street, police said.

Tom Lynch, a spokesman for the Washington DC Police Department, said one of the officers who had been walking through the courtrooms was injured in the incident. Lynch said the officer’s body armor was damaged and he suffered bruising consistent with his vest being struck by an object. Lynch said investigators are trying to determine whether the object was a bullet.

Detectives were searching for a red SUV that was caught on surveillance camera driving away from the crime scene.

The injured officer, whose identity has not been released, is at least the sixth police officer injured in a shooting in the district this year.

Three Washington police officers were wounded by gunfire in February while executing a no-knock warrant in Southeast Washington. Also in February, a DC Housing Authority police officer was shot during a shootout on M Street in Southeast Washington, in the Navy Yard, less than a mile from Thursday’s shooting.

In May, a Washington police captain was injured by broken glass when a gunman opened fire on his personal vehicle on his way to work, authorities said.