One of the reasons that crime in Washington, D.C., has gone down so much has been the presence of the National Guard. They've been a great deterrent.
But National Guard members faced some trouble on Sunday night when they intervened to try to break up a fight, according to D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll.
Carroll said that there were about seven or eight National Guard members in a van who exited the vehicle due to the fight. According to Fox, they allegedly found a man with a gun, ordered him to drop it, but he pointed the gun at them, and there was an exchange of fire.
🚨 BREAKING: A National Guard member was shot near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. last night. Per authorities, seven or eight guardsmen were in a van when they heard what sounded like a fight and moved in to help. A suspect refused to drop his gun and opened fire. The guardsmen fired back. One Guard member was hit, and so was the suspect. Both were taken to a local hospital. These men and women ran toward danger to protect people they'd never met, and one of them took a bullet for it. Pray for this guardsman's recovery. Anyone who still says D.C. doesn't need the Guard should look at what happened last night.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 19, 2026
One of the National Guard members was shot in the leg. The suspect was hit in the abdomen.
"So both have gunshot wounds," Carroll said, "the National Guard member and the suspect."
He explained that they were both expected to live, that the wounds they suffered were "non-life-threatening injuries."
The suspect and the National Guard member were taken to the hospital for treatment, he noted.
Three National Guard members "discharged firearms" during the incident, Carroll explained.