Bernis Carr Jr. was a 31-year-old Metropolitan Police Department officer with 11 years’ service when he was killed in the winter of 1978. On the evening of February 16 he was off-duty at Jimi’s Lounge, 4801 Georgia Avenue NW, when a group of armed men entered intending to rob the bar and its patrons. The robbers searched customers and discovered Carr was a police officer, and he was fatally shot in the head and chest. Caught by surprise, Carr fired two shots from his own weapon before he was killed.

Investigators identified and arrested five suspects: Joseph L. Wright, Gregory E. Williams, Calvin O. Gorham, Dion M. Wilson, and Ricardo A. Roberts. Wright pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a minimum 20-year sentence. Williams was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and assault and was identified as the shooter. Gorham, Wilson, and Roberts pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed robbery and received prison sentences for their roles.

If anyone remembers Jimi’s Lounge on Georgia Avenue or has information about that robbery, please share what is known.