The death of an Army veteran and George Washington University grad student is a homicide, police announced today, but it remains to be seen whether it will be prosecuted as a murder.
Patrick Casey, 33, got into a fight at a McDonald’s on M Street NW last Friday. Initial reports, quoting Casey’s parents (who themselves relied on other witnesses at the scene), said he intervened in an altercation and was “sucker punched,” knocking him down. He suffered a “severe laceration” to the back of his head, according to the Washington Post, and was pronounced dead Tuesday after being in a coma for four days.
But at this point, WJLA reports, no one is facing charges in the case.
MPD Captain Michael Farish told reporters it’s unclear who started the confrontation last Friday, and Casey could have been the aggressor. He said the initial push came from either Casey or someone with him.
Farrish said the case could be a simple assault, a misdemeanor. Video reports are embedded below the jump.
