Harold James, a 66-year-old Black man, died after being struck by a stray bullet that passed from the apartment above into his Southeast Washington, D.C., unit on the evening of February 9, 2022. At about 9:00 p.m. he was resting in bed in the 2300 block of Good Hope Road SE when a round discharged in the upstairs apartment, pierced the floor and his ceiling, and struck him in the left leg.

First responders found Mr. James unconscious and he was taken to a local hospital by D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services; he was pronounced dead shortly after 10:00 p.m. The Metropolitan Police Department classified the case as involuntary manslaughter and said the neighbor upstairs had been cleaning a legally registered firearm when it discharged. The neighbor has cooperated and no arrest has been made.

Was anyone in the building familiar with unsafe firearm handling in the units above or below them who can share information with investigators?