Incident Minivan-Police-Shooting

Incident Description

"On February 15, 2022, Fairfax County Police Department (hereinafter “FCPD”) Police Officer First Class #1 (hereinafter “PFC#1”) and Officer #1 (hereinafter OFC#1) responded to a call to the Fairfax County Department of Public Safety Communications (hereinafter “DPSC”) reporting a “suspicious vehicle/person” on Fitt Court in Lorton, Virginia.

PFC#1 arrived at 8:12 a.m. and OFC#1 arrived at 8:15 a.m. Both officers were accompanied by FCPD recruits getting ready to begin their initial training to become officers at the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Training Academy. The officers located the vehicle—a passenger van—and noticed that it had very dark tinted windows and curtains inside the vehicle which separated the driver and passenger compartments. They knocked loudly on the van and announced themselves as FCPD officers. They received no response.

PFC#1 and OFC#1 determined that the license plates affixed to the van had been reported stolen. Based on this information, and suspecting that the van itself was also stolen, they requested a tow truck to respond to the location. While waiting for the tow truck to arrive, the officers opened the unlocked rear hatch and PFC#1 announced “Police” five more times. He also advised anyone inside to make themselves known, but still got no response from anyone inside the vehicle. The officers did find a Virginia license plate inside of the van. The Virginia license plate matched the vehicle identification number of the van. They then contacted the registered owner of the van to determine who may have been driving it. While PFC#1 spoke to the registered owner of the van, the tow truck driver arrived and opened the driver’s door.

OFC#1 pushed a button inside the van to open the rear sliding doors; and, as the driver’s side rear sliding door opened, she saw a man holding what she believed to be a carbine-type rifle.

The individual (later identified as bearing the initials—and hereinafter identified as— “MV”) appeared to be trying to get out of the van while holding the weapon. OFC#1 immediately yelled to PFC#1, “he’s got a gun,” and got herself and the tow truck driver away from the van and in front of the tow truck to use for cover. Upon hearing the warning from OFC#1, PFC#1 got out of his patrol cruiser—inside of which he had been talking on the phone to the van’s owner—and provided multiple commands to MV while PFC#1 retreated to the rear of his cruiser. The commands included, “Hey, do not move!” and “don’t move!” MV did not comply. Rather, he began to raise the rifle in an apparent attempt to fire it at OFC#1, the tow truck driver, PFC#1, or the two recruits who were on the scene.

PFC#1 fired three shots from his handgun at MV. After being struck, MV dropped the rifle and fell to the ground. PFC#1 and OFC#1 began to render aid to MV as soon as they got him from within reaching distance of his rifle. MV survived the gunshots and was transported to a hospital for treatment. He was released from the hospital two days later and transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center."

----(IPA-22-02: Public Report by the Fairfax County Independent Police Auditor)