UNITED STATES | Jamaican Parents demand answers in the shooting death of 25 year old daughter, Special Police Officer Maurica Manyan

WASHINGTON, D.C. August 18, 2022, – Radcliffe Manyan Sr and and his wife Sherene who hail from Duhaney Park in Kingston, and now reside in Washington DC, are demanding answers regarding how their daughter, a Library Police Officer, was shot and killed while on a training course on August 4, 2022. 

Officer Maurica Manyan, a 25-year-old mother of a 4-year-old son, was employed as a Library Police Officer, and was shot and killed while participating in a work-related training at the Anacostia Neighborhood Library on August 4, 2022. She was allegedly shot by her training instructor, former lieutenant of the Metropolitan Police Department, Jesse Porter.

It is believed that Porter was permitted to unlawfully enter a government building with a fully loaded firearm, which was allegedly used to kill Officer Manyan moments before she was due to pick up her son from daycare.

Reports say Jesse Porter, the alleged shooter, was subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter and was free to go home the very next day following the shooting.

 He was released from custody on August 5 after he assured the court that he’ll be present for his next arraignment on August 24. He was also ordered to turn his firearms in. 

Douglass Morency, who is the DC Public Library system’s director of public safety, also tendered in his resignation hours after the fatal incident, NBC4 Washington reported. Officials, however, did not disclose why Morency stepped down.

“Since starting in February, Maurica was known in the Library for her warm, bubbly personality. Our thoughts are with Maurica’s family, and the DCPL family, especially our colleagues in the Office of Public Safety, as we mourn the loss of Maurica together,” the library system said in a statement. 

Members of Officer Manyan’s family say they have a host of questions surrounding the events that led up to Maurica’s death : “What happened to Officer Manyan on August 4, 2022, was senseless, grossly negligent and frankly bizarre” says Attorney Chelsea Lewis, Family Attorney for Maurica Manyan.

“Justice for Maurica has not been achieved with the arrest of Jesse Porter. Her family had to learn via the news that the individual who shot and killed their loved one was released in less than 24 hours. Porter was treated as though he simply had a broken taillight, rather than someone who took the life of a mother, daughter, and sister,” the attorney said.

“While we are not quick to rush to judgment, one can infer that Mr. Porter’s former position as a police lieutenant of the same department that responded to the shooting may have been a factor in the white glove treatment that has been provided to someone who walked into a government building with a loaded weapon and killed a mother and law enforcement officer,” continues Attorney Chelsea Lewis.

“We believe Jesse Porter was contracted by the Library Police Department to facilitate a training program that did not require a firearm. Based on initial reports, we believe that he was the only one who had a weapon that should have never been allowed in the building in the first place. His defense seems to be that he was ‘joking’ when aiming a live weapon at Officer Manyan, but unholstering a loaded weapon, pointing it at an unarmed police officer and pulling the trigger is certainly not a joke or a mistake,” the family attorney maintains.

This is not a situation where a gun fell out of a bag and misfired, we believe this is a situation where a man willfully raised his weapon and caused the wrongful death of Officer Manyan.”

According to a report from  WUSA9, the retired police officer, 58-year-old Jesse Porter, allegedly drew the gun from his holster and opened fire after the 25-year-old officer removed her face mask to take a picture. Witnesses said the retired lieutenant probably thought the weapon he discharged was a dummy training gun.

In the aftermath of the shooting, a witness recalled Porter saying, “I thought I had my training gun. Why did I do this? Is she OK?”

But Manyan’s family said Porter should have known better because of his experience as a retired police lieutenant. “What was his purpose of even pulling the gun out in a training? It didn’t matter that they had dummy guns,” Manyan’s cousin, Leo Richards, said. “There was no threat, there was no need for a weapon and why pull the trigger?”

Lewis alleges that to date the District of Columbia has not contacted the Manyan family to offer condolences for Officer Manyan’s death.

“We want to know why the director of public safety for the DC Public Library system abruptly resigned from his role and are interested to know how many other laws and security protocols were violated when Porter was allowed to enter a government building with a loaded weapon,” said Lewis.

The family believes that “the District of Columbia failed to provide Officer Manyan with a safe work environment, and we intend to obtain the answers that the Manyan family so desperately needs and deserves. We know one thing for sure, if the District of Columbia, Jesse Porter, his consulting company, and the Anacostia Neighborhood Library would have followed basic safety and security protocols, Officer Maurica Manyan would be alive today.”

Organizations have a duty to ensure they provide a safe work environment and Officer Manyan’s death represents a clear breach of that duty by all parties involved. We plan to fully investigate this matter and ensure that Officer Manyan and her family receive justice.” the attorney declared.

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