UPDATED at 8:30 p.m. with MPD’s press release
Washington City Paper reports that Gaurav Gopalan, who was found dead in Columbia Heights and was identified at the time as a transgender woman, is believed to have been killed in a homicide.
Gopalan, who was found unconscious near his Columbia Heights home in the early hours of Sept. 10, died after suffering sub-arachnoid hemorrhage—bleeding in the space between the brain and the thin tissues that cover it—”due to blunt-impact head trauma,” according to Beverly Fields, chief of staff of the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. “The manner of death is homicide.”
MPD’s press release is below.
September 20, 2011
Death Ruled Homicide: 2600 Block of 11th Street, NW
(Washington, DC)-Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch announced today that the death of Gaurav Gopalan, who was found in the 2600 block of 11th Street, NW, has been ruled a homicide by a member of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of DC.
On Saturday, September 10, 2011, at approximately 5:20 am, units from the Third District responded to the 2600 block of 11th Street, NW, for the report of a man down. Upon arrival, the units discovered 35 year-old Gaurav Gopalan of Northwest, Washington, DC unconscious and unresponsive. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel transported the decedent to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the police at (202) 727-9099 or 1-888-919-CRIME (1-888-919-2746).
The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone that provides information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons wanted from any homicide committed in the District of Columbia.
Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to DC CRIME SOLVERS at 1-800-673-2777 and to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411. If the information provided by the caller to the Crime Solvers Unit leads to an arrest and indictment, that caller will be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.
