Local
Probable cause found that off-duty cop fired gun at trans women
Judge orders D.C. officer held without bond
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Sept. 2 ruled that prosecutors established probable cause that an off-duty D.C. police officer committed an assault with a dangerous weapon for allegedly firing a pistol at three transgender women and two male friends during an Aug. 26 incident in Northwest Washington.
Judge Ann O’Regan Keary ordered Officer Kenneth Furr, a 21-year veteran on the force, held without bond pending his trial. Keary said evidence presented by police and prosecutors showed that releasing the officer would pose a danger to the community.
The judge’s ruling came during a preliminary hearing in which First District police Det. James Freeman provided detailed testimony about his investigation of the incident.
Freeman testified that the victims and at least two D.C. police officers who were in the vicinity of the shooting reported that Furr stood on the hood of a car in which the victims were sitting and fired at them through the windshield.
He said witnesses and the victims reported that the incident began about 4:40 a.m. at a CVS drug store at 400 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., when Furr and one of the shooting victims reportedly got into a “verbal altercation.”
Transgender activist Jeri Hughes said one of the transgender women involved in the incident told her the verbal altercation inside the CVS store started when Furr approached one of the transgender women and invited her to engage in sex. Furr reportedly became angry when she turned him down, Hughes said, prompting the woman’s male friend to exchange words with Furr in an effort to get him to leave the woman alone.
Freeman testified that Furr and the same person who argued with Furr inside the CVS store exchanged words outside the store a short time later while Furr was sitting in his car parked nearby.
According to Freeman, Furr reportedly retrieved a handgun from the glove compartment of his car, pointed it at the person and threatened to shoot the person, who is believed to be one of the male friends of the trans women.
The same person returned to the CVS store and told a security guard that Furr had threatened him with a gun, a police affidavit says. The victim then met up with the other four people, including the three transgender women, and all five got into one of their cars and followed Furr, who drove away in his car, Freeman testified.
When both cars reached the intersection of First and Pierce streets, N.W., Furr jumped out of his car and began to shoot at the car where the five others were riding, Freeman told the court hearing. The shooting prompted the driver to crouch down to avoid being hit, causing the car he was driving to collide with Furr’s car, Freeman said.
That’s when Furr apparently climbed on the hood of the other car and fired his gun through the windshield, the victims and police witnesses reported.
Police and transgender activists who spoke with at least two of the victims said two of three transgender women in the car suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds during the incident. Transgender activists said one of two male friends who were in the car was also was struck and suffered serious but non-life threatening wounds. All three were treated in area hospitals, the activists said.
In his testimony at the Sept. 2 hearing Freeman recounted details from a police affidavit he prepared that lists each of the five people in the car as unidentified witnesses. Neither the affidavit nor Freeman during his court testimony mentioned that three of the five people in the car at which Furr allegedly fired his gun were members of the transgender community.
News that some of the victims were members of the transgender community emerged from a police news release on the day of the incident. Deputy D.C. Police Chief Diane Groomes made personal calls to LGBT activists shortly after 5 a.m. on Aug. 26, just minutes after the incident occurred, to inform them of what happened and to note that police and the department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit were investigating the incident.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Worm argued at the court hearing that police provided sufficient evidence that probable cause exists that Furr committed an assault with a dangerous weapon two times – once when he pointed the gun at one or two of the victims outside the CVS store and another time when he fired his gun at the victims while they were in their car.
Furr’s defense attorney, Harold Martin, told Keary accounts of the incident by various witnesses appeared to differ, making it difficult to determine the events that led to the shooting. He noted that the car in which the five people were riding followed Furr in the “wee hours of the morning” and Furr had a legal right to defend himself if he believed he was in danger.
He also pointed to the police affidavit’s assertion that one of the victims admitted to being drunk at the time of the incident and another victim admitted to having smoked marijuana the night prior to the incident.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions about what happened that night,” he said.
“The defendant exhibited extremely reckless behavior,” Worm told the judge. “He shot at least five times and certainly all five could have been killed.”
She pointed to a statement by at least one of the victims that Furr shouted “Ima kill all of you” before he started shooting into the vehicle.
Worm noted a police breadth test also found that Furr “had been drinking a substantial amount of alcohol” and that he had a prior arrest in D.C. for driving while intoxicated. Police initially charged Furr with driving while intoxicated in the latest incident but the U.S. Attorney’s office did not file that charge in court.
Nearly a dozen family members and friends of Furr’s sat in the courtroom during the hearing, a fact that defense attorney Martin mentioned while arguing that Furr’s strong community ties were among the grounds for allowing him to be released while awaiting trial.
But Keary, in issuing her ruling on the matter, said the government met the legal criteria needed to have Furr held in jail, saying no combination of circumstances or mitigating factors could override her belief that Furr would pose a danger to the public if released.
She scheduled a status hearing for Oct. 7. The case was expected to go before a grand jury in the next few weeks.
District of Columbia
D.C. Latinx Pride celebrates culture and heritage
Your guide to events throughout June
Organizers with the Latinx History Project have planned a host of events this Pride season with parties, poetry, drag and more.
The festivities begin with the DC Latinx Pride 2026 Kickoff at Crush Dance Bar (2007 14th Street, N.W.) on Friday, June 12 from 6-10 p.m. The party will include a coronation ceremony for the 2026 Royal Court: Ms. DC Latinx Pride Vida Rangel and Mx. DC Latinx Pride Steph Niaupari. RSVP at latinxhistoryproject.org. The event is free, though donations are accepted.
An outdoor event is planned for Sunday, June 14 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Anacostia River Park (1500 Anacostia Dr., S.E.). Cultivating Queer Outdoor Joy is a “peaceful outdoor community event focused on grounding, connection, and queer joy in nature.” The event is free.
A panel discussion is planned for The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Rd., N.W., 2nd floor) on Monday, June 15 from 6-8 p.m. La Plática: The Future of 2 Spirits and Trans Natives will focus upon the “stories, leadership and vision of Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer and Trans Native people.” RSVP to the free event at latinxhistoryproject.org.
A sex-positive poetry workshop, “Hoetry: Writing Erotic Poetry,” is planned for Wednesday, June 17 from 6-8 p.m. at The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Road, N.W.). The event is free.
The workshop So You Wanna Do Drag? is planned for Thursday, June 18 from 5:30-8 p.m. at The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Road, N.W.). Featured guests Ricky Rose and Mari Con Carne will hold a style showcase to discuss the basics of developing a drag persona. RSVP to the free event at latinxhistoryproject.org.
The Latinx History Project is collaborating with Rumba Queer DC to produce an official Latinx Pride Party: Sin Vergüenza. The event is at the multi-level venue, Transmission (1353 H Street, N.E.) on Thursday, June 18 from 7 p.m.-1 a.m. There are dance lessons, vendors and three different music experiences in the sprawling venue. There will also be a drag showcase from 10-11 p.m. The event is 21+ and tickets are available at shotgun.live/en/events/sin-verguenza. Tickets are $15 for entry into the party. Tickets to participate in the dance lesson are $29.98. Participants may choose between a bachata lesson or a salsa lesson from 7-8 p.m.
La Fiesta: Official DC Latinx Pride Party is planned for Friday, June 19 from 10 p.m. – 2 a.m. at Bunker (2001 14th Street, N.W.). Serena Morena from “Drag Race México” and “Drag Race UK vs The World” is slated to headline the 21+ event. Early tickets are available for $15 (plus $0.38 service fee) until June 16. The door cover charge without early tickets is $20. Attendees can also purchase a meet and greet experience with Serena Morena for $30. Tickets are available at latinxhistoryproject.org.
The Latinx History Project plans to march in the Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 20 and to have a table at the Capital Pride Festival on Sunday, June 21. Visit latinxhistoryproject.org to register to march alongside LGP in the parade or to staff the table at the festival.
The DC Latinx Pride 2026 Closing Event is scheduled for Friday, June 26 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Mexican Cultural Institute (2829 16th Street, N.W.). The free event is a panel discussion “centering the experiences of immigrants who have lived in Latin America and now call the United States home.”
Visit latinxhistoryproject.org for more information.
District of Columbia
JR.’s hosts meet & greet for mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George
Event organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, Queers for Janeese
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George spoke to a crowd of LGBTQ supporters on June 1 at a meet & greet event held at JR.’s on 17th Street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.
The event, organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, which has endorsed Lewis George for mayor, with support from a group called Queers for Janeese, was followed by a “get out the vote” canvassing endeavor in which several of those attending the meet & greet visited the homes of nearby residents known to be Lewis George supporters.
The purpose of the canvassing was to remind Lewis George supporters to return their mail-in ballots or go to the polls on June 16 to elect Lewis George as the city’s next mayor, according to Matthew Kavanagh, one of the leaders of Queers for Janeese who attended the meet & greet event at JR.’s.
Local political observers consider Lewis George, a Ward 4 D.C. Council member, and former At-Large D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie, to be the two leading candidates in this year’s race for mayor. The two are among seven mayoral candidates competing in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary.
Lewis George told those attending the meet & greet, which was held on the JR.’s outdoor patio, that she has a long record of advocating for and initiating city polices and laws in support of the LGBTQ community. She said large corporate donors were backing her opponents and urged her LGBTQ supporters to help raise funds for her in the remaining days of the campaign.
Among those attending the meet & greet was gay longtime Dupont Circle civic activist Randy Downs who last November opened a nearby eatery called Protest Pizza. “I am queer and I am a Janeese supporter,” Downs told the Blade.
Stevie McCarty, president of Capital Stonewall Democrats, who also spoke at the meet & greet event, said his group would organize events in support of Lewis George in the remaining days of the campaign. Among them, he said, was an LGBTQ bar crawl in which supporters of Lewis George, including the candidate herself, would visit LGBTQ bars to promote her candidacy.
Virginians for Marriage Equality on Monday launched a campaign in support of repealing Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman, former state Sen. Adam Ebbin, former state Del. Mark Sickles, and American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia Executive Director Mary Bauer are among those who spoke at the launch that took place in Richmond. State Del. Kirk McPike (D-Alexandria), who co-chairs the campaign, also participated.
“This amendment is about making clear that the government has no business deciding which marriages or which families are worthy of recognition,” said Bauer. “The ACLU of Virginia has been fighting for Virginians’ right to marry who they love since the landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the ban on interracial marriage. Now we are proud to carry that legacy forward by standing with our coalition partners in the fight to pass this amendment and finally enshrine the right to marriage equality in the commonwealth’s constitution.”
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is a Republican, in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger in February signed a bill that finalized the referendum’s language.
The referendum will take place on Nov. 3.
Queer Magic dance party planned
NLGJA-DC Pride happy hour at Trade
DC Front Runners Pride Run 5K set for Saturday
Calendar: June 5-11
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