CURIOUS - AT 8:17 A.M. ET:  As you know, an armed man was shot dead by police late yesterday, right near the Capitol in Washington.  But there's something curious here:

WASHINGTON - Police still have not publicly identified the gunman they shot and killed near the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.
The D.C. Police Department is now in charge of the investigation.

Investigators know the identity of the gunman but neither the city police nor the U.S. Capitol Police has released it.

Police say the man fled a traffic stop in front of Union Station and nearly ran over two officers.

COMMENT:  The quoted story was released at 6:33 a.m. ET this morning.  Why won't the police release the name of the gunman?  Okay, there could be legitimate reasons - notification of next of kin, for example.  But the shooting occurred yesterday afternoon.  The man was driving a car.  Presumably, he had a license with an address.  The car had temporary Virginia tags, easily traced.  Notification should have been easy.

This may well be a routine delay, but we'll follow it to see if there's anything unusual here.  There didn't seem to be any logical reason why the gunman would flee, then fire shots. 

July 16, 2009