Police ask for help after man found dead near Kennedy Center

D.C. police are asking for help from drivers who travel Rock Creek Parkway after a man was found dead outside of a parking garage near the Kennedy Center Friday morning.

The man was found in the 2700 block of F Street NW.

An employee of the performing arts center’s parking garage called police at 7:32 a.m., said Chief Robert Contee during a news conference.

“This does not appear to be where the crime occurred,” said Contee, adding that the police believe the man — identified only as a Black man in his 30s — likely walked across Rock Creek Parkway toward the performing arts center.

Contee wants drivers who saw anything out of the ordinary to call police at 202-727-9099 or to text a tip to 50411.

Investigators will be looking at cameras outside the Kennedy Center as part of the investigation.

The police said the initial call said that there had been a shooting, but Contee said no gunshots were heard in the area.

“We’re unsure of the type of injury that it is, whether it is a gunshot wound, a stab wound,” Contee said.

Contee said it is uncertain how the man died because he had what appeared to be injuries that were both in the healing stage and some that appeared to be new.

Because of the investigation, all traffic southbound on the Rock Creek Parkway and northbound at Parkway Drive has been stopped, and police have diverted traffic to Virginia Avenue away from the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.

WTOP’s Nick Iannelli reported from the scene.

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