Fairfax County police released body camera video and dispatch calls from a police-involved shooting that wounded a woman last month.
The woman who was shot appeared to be having a mental health crisis as she threatened residents and police.
A caregiver at the group home for adults with intellectual disabilities called 911 and told the dispatcher, “She’s making noise, breaking things. She wants to fight … she wants to kill me.”
Women retreated to the basement. A third person locked themselves in their room.
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Then the suspect said she was going to kill herself.
K9 officers first responded to the 911 calls. With guns drawn, they entered the home and found a 30-year-old resident armed with a kitchen knife. The woman turned her threats toward them, moving in their direction.
An officer shot the woman in the stomach, and she dropped the knife.
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Officers immediately helped the woman, reassuring her she was going to be alright.
The woman is recovering from the gunshot wound.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis believes the video shows the veteran officers had little choice but to act to protect themselves and others in the home.
“That’s tough to watch, but they were doing the best they absolutely could under a very tough circumstance,” he said.
Though, neither officer had a taser, Davis doubts they would have had time to try less than lethal force. But it underscores a problem he plans to address: Not every officer is assigned a taser.
“I want to go so far as to assign them individually to police officers so that they are immediately available,” he said.
The investigation is ongoing. The officer who fired his gun is on restricted duty. The woman faces charges of assault on a law enforcement officer.
