Aunt: Suspect didn’t have gun

The aunt of the Dumfries man shot by a Washington, D.C., police officer early Sunday morning said Monday that friends who were with her nephew said he was unarmed at the time of the incident.

Gregory McCord, of 3630 Anchorage Cove, was shot in the arm and chin by Officer Royston Gilgeous following a fight between McCord and a 20-year-old District man, who police said McCord shot in the leg, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

At around 4 a.m. Sunday, the officer found McCord standing over the unnamed man in the 700 block of E Street NW, pointing a gun at him, police said.

When Gilgeous ordered McCord, 20, to drop the gun, McCord reportedly pointed the gun at the officer, causing Gilgeous to open fire, according to police. McCord then fled but was captured and arrested one block away, police said.

He has been charged with assault of a police officer while armed and assault with a dangerous weapon, according to a police report.

McCord’s aunt, Yvonne Freeman, said that the story provided by the police is not possible.

“According to the [four friends who were with McCord that night], Gregory did not have a gun,” Freeman said. “He hasn’t been the best child in the world, but we know that he wouldn’t do this.”

McCord, who lives with Freeman and her husband, Curtis, has two prior convictions in Prince William County. In 2000, he was convicted of receiving stolen property. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to four years probation after being convicted of possession of crack cocaine.

While Freeman admits that McCord has made mistakes, she adamantly insists that he did not point a gun at the officer.

“He was in a club down there with his friends,” Freeman recalled from conversations she had with witnesses. “He was with four men and a woman. Some guys were sexually harassing the female, but [McCord and his friends] stopped them. When they left the club later on, someone started shooting but no one was hit. I think it was the ones harassing the female.

“Gregory saw [the shooter] on the street and started running after him,” Freeman continued. “Greg ran around the corner with no gun in his hands and the next thing [the witnesses] heard was gunfire. No shouting, just shooting.”

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department would not comment on Freeman’s rendition of the story, saying that the department does not comment on ongoing investigations.

McCord was taken George Wash-ington Hospital, where he was admitted in stable condition, police said.

A third man, 22-year-old Oluseyi Osinowo of Jackson, Miss., was arrested at the scene of the shooting on charges of carrying a pistol without a license and possession of unregistered ammunition.

Police said that they found a handgun in his 1997 Honda sports utility vehicle but would not comment further on his connection with the shootings.

The man who was shot in the leg, whose name has not been released because he is a witness, was taken to an unnamed hospital and was admitted in stable condition, police said.

Staff writer Adam H. Beasley can be reached at (703) 878-8065.