Great Falls Connection

Early Tuesday morning, Aug. 16, a man died after having been shot by a Fairfax County Sheriff’s Deputy outside the green garage area at Inova Fairfax Hospital the previous evening.

At a press briefing later that Tuesday morning in the Public Safety Headquarters building Police Chief Edwin Roessler and Sheriff Stacey Kincaid recapped the events with as much information as is known, while both a criminal and administrative investigation are underway.

Roessler said the deceased man, an as yet unnamed 29-year-old Hispanic male, had been a patient at the hospital. Hospital staff had helped him to the bus stop in the garage area shortly before 10 p.m., after he’d been discharged. Neither his reason for being in the hospital nor his length of stay has been released. The man’s next of kin had not yet been notified, and so his identity was not released.

Hospital security then received several calls of a suspicious man with an apparent weapon.

Police later released a photo of the object, which turned out to be a metal signpost with a sharp end used for driving into the ground.

Hospital security guards responded to the scene and observed the man “acting in what appears to be a mental episode,” Roessler said.

The guards attempted to mitigate the situation, Roessler said, and the suspect struck and injured one of the guards with the post. The guards then radioed for additional help.

A Fairfax County Sheriff’s Deputy assigned to the hospital that night heard the call for help over security radio and responded to the bus stop, as did several Police Officers.

The deputy, who Roessler and Kincaid said has undergone Crisis Intervention Team training for helping people with mental illness, also attempted to “negotiate and de-escalate the episode.”

The suspect raised his post and began to charge the deputy, Roessler said.

The deputy gave the suspect orders to stop, while “tactically trying to retreat.”

When the suspect did not stop coming, Roessler said, the Sheriff’s deputy fired his 40-caliber Glock duty weapon several times, striking the male. The two were at “close proximity” during their engagement, but the details are still under investigation. The entire encounter took place in a very short period of time, Roessler said.

The man was taken to the Inova emergency room for his injuries.

The deputy is on administrative leave, Kincaid said, while the Police Department conducts a criminal investigation and the Sheriff’s Office carries out an administrative investigation to see if all policies for use of force were followed appropriately.

Roessler said Inova security cameras -- not body cameras -- captured the incident, though he has not seen it. As it is now evidence; it’s uncertain when the footage will be released to the public. Neither Fairfax County Police nor Fairfax Sheriff’s Deputies have employed body cameras at this time.