The incident began about 3:20 p.m. when the man was spotted near the Farragut West station, several blocks from the White House. The station and passengers on the train were evacuated as police talked to the suspect.

Blocker said he believed the man was armed because ‘he kept his hand in his pocket the whole time.’

When Blocker first approached the man, he said, ‘I want to talk to you. (The suspect) said ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’ I said, I want to talk to you. I want to help you. He said, ‘All right.’ Then he pointed something at me.’

Blocker said he hid behind a pole in the tunnel and then approached the man after he put his gun and his radio down.

‘I didn’t want to excite him. I said shoot me, shoot me if you must. I didn’t have nothing in my hand. I didn’t want him to go off.’

The ordeal ended at 4:02 p.m. when Blocker, unarmed, approached the man and said, ‘If you’re going to shoot, shoot, because we have a railroad to run.’

The incident delayed thousands of homebound commuters on two subway lines for an hour between downtown and Arlington County, Va.

‘It’s not any fun going down a dark tunnel when there’s cops coming the other way with their guns drawn,’ a city police officer at the McPherson Square station said.