A community vigil in the Langdon neighborhood of Northeast D.C. Monday night honored the life of fallen D.C. police investigator Wayne David, who died after a gun he was trying to recover went off, striking him in the head.
Dozens attended the vigil, which was staged outside David’s apartment complex after Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Harry Thomas Jr. shared a flyer on social media. Attendees were encouraged to use their own cell phone flashlight as a vigil light as balloons flew high in the sky.
“He was just always serving, always looking to see how he could help, and that’s not readily available in today’s society,” Lauraline Gregory, David’s neighbor of 23 years, told WTOP’s news partners 7News.
The vigil was put on by the area ANC (5C06), Bryant Street Townhomes Condominium Association and Woodridge Home Owners Association.
David was a D.C. native and a 25-year veteran of the District’s police force. According to a statement, he helped hundreds of guns off the streets and was awarded the Ribbon of Valor. He leaves behind a son and a daughter.
He will be laid to rest in Fort Washington, Maryland, on Sept. 12.
Kalihah Barber, David’s fiancée, told 7News at the vigil they met as coworkers in the gun unit so she believes what happened was a “freak accident.” The pair was preparing for an April wedding when David was killed.
“I still feel like I’m dreaming, like it’s not real,” Barber said. “That’s been the last few days. Numbness. Just numb.”
There is a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. The driver of the motorcycle the suspect used to escape after dropping the gun that killed David was arrested Sunday.
“Beyond being an officer, he was a good man — and a great dad — that many people loved and looked up to,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement following David’s death. “The impact of guns on our community is unbearable. It is hard to accept that a man who came to work to protect our city won’t return home.”
Watch the entire vigil below, courtesy of 7News:
