A Fairfax County police officer fatally shot a man armed with a knife early Monday after authorities say he stabbed and killed his wife and daughter and left his son-in-law injured. The suspect’s 1-year-old grandchild was found unharmed in an apartment.
Fairfax County police officials said the incident unfolded just after 5 a.m. on Persimmon Circle.
In a news conference at the scene, Chief Kevin Davis said authorities received a 911 call from a man who was in his 30s and was outside an apartment where he lived with his wife, 1-year-old child and in-laws, who are in their 50s. The caller said he was cleaning the snow off his car in the parking lot when he heard a disturbance from inside his apartment. Another resident in the complex also called 911 to report an issue, police said.
When the man — who was later identified as the suspect’s son-in-law — went back inside the apartment he found his wife suffering from stab wounds and saw his father-in-law stabbing his mother-in-law with a knife, police said.
The father-in-law then “turned the knife on his son-in-law,” Davis said.
Davis said the knife was a “curved dagger with a 10-inch blade that resembles a meat cleaver.”
Davis said that when two police officers arrived within several minutes of the two 911 calls, they made their way to the apartment and one of the officers saw the suspect stabbing his son-in-law.
The officer, Davis said, gave “repeated commands to drop the knife.”
“He refused to drop the weapon,” Davis said. That’s when the officer fired his gun, he said.
The suspect’s daughter and wife both died. The man’s son-in-law underwent surgery and was in life-threatening condition. The baby was checked out medically and was unharmed, police said.
Authorities did not release the names of anyone involved, saying they needed to notify the next of kin. Police said they are working with authorities to locate any additional family members of the child.
Davis said he had seen body-camera footage from the officers and that he believes the officer did “exactly what we expect him to do.”
“The damage, the chaos, and the carnage that was perpetrated by this man in his 50s on his own family is unimaginable,” Davis said.
He said the incident remains under investigation and that officials had no motive. Davis said there had been no prior calls of domestic disturbance or other crimes to the home and there was “no history with the family as far, as we can tell.”
“We don’t know the strife happening in their lives,” Davis said.
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