Transit police shoot man dead in Washington, D.C., subway tunnel

(Reuters) - Transit police in Washington, D.C., fatally shot a man they encountered in a subway tunnel without authorization on Thursday, officials said. Washington Metro Transit police responded to a report of a man on the tracks from a subway operator shortly before 9 p.m. local time, Metro spokeswoman Morgan Dye said. The transit police said on Twitter the suspect was killed inside the tunnel just east of the Potomac Avenue station in Southeast Washington. None of the responding officers was injured, it said. Further details were not immediately available, and authorities did not say what the man might have been doing in the subway tunnel. The incident caused delays on the subway's Blue, Orange and Silver lines, Metro said. Dye said the District of Columbia police department had taken over the investigation and directed further questions there. A representative for the city police directed questions to the transit police. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Steve Gorman and Paul Tait)