Early Christmas morning, a DC Metro police officer called Karen Robinson to tell her that her son Raymond had been shot and killed.
Later that morning, Raymond called Robinson to wish her a “Merry Christmas.”
Monday, the police apologized for the “mix-up.”
“I think they should make a positive ID on a person before they come because anything could have happened,” Robinson told DC station News4. “I could have had a heart attack right here on this floor.”
In a statement obtained by News4, police admit “proper protocol was not followed in the identification process.”
Robinson told News4 she was shocked and upon hearing her son’s voice on the phone and said: “Boy, they said you died.” Robinson also said she initially called family members to report the bad news — and then had to call all of them back to say there had been a mistake.
“They thought I was delusional,” Robinson said of her family’s reaction.
The man who actually died was later identified as Gregory Marcus Gray. Gray fired shots at officers after being cornered following a robbery. The officers returned fire, killing Gray.