Police Fatally Shoot Suspect Outside Virginia Hospital

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A suspect who allegedly threatened a police officer has died after being shot by the officer Monday night on the campus of Inova Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax County Police said Tuesday morning.

Shortly before 4 a.m. on Tuesday, Fairfax County law enforcement authorities were notified that the man who allegedly threatened a Fairfax County Sheriff’s deputy and was subsequently shot by the deputy, died at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, 3300 Gallows Road in Fairfax County.

A spokesman said at a news conference the suspect was shot multiple times. Speaking at a news conference Tuesday morning, authorities said there is video evidence of the encounter that they are not releasing yet.

Authorities at the news conference also said it appeared the man was having some sort of "mental episode."

There was no word on the man's identity Tuesday morning other than he is a Hispanic male, age 29. An autopsy is scheduled for some time Tuesday, police said, to be conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Police say that positive identification of the man who died has not yet been determined and therefore no next of kin has been notified.

The incident began Monday night, shortly before 10 p.m., when Inova Fairfax Hospital security called the Fairfax County Department of Public Safety Communications (DPSC) to report that a suspicious man with "some sort of edged weapon" was seen at a bus stop outside the “green” garage on the hospital's campus, police said.

An on-duty deputy with the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, who was in uniform and on assignment at the hospital, responded to the bus stop and located the suspicious man, according to police.

Police say the man threatened the officer with some sort of object and the officer shot him. Police did not say what part of the man's body was hit.

Three Fairfax County police officers arrived and began to render aid to the shot person, and personnel from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, already on scene at the hospital, arrived and transported the man to the hospital a short distance away, police said.

The man's condition was initially said to be non-life-threatening, Fairfax County Police said. No deputies or officers were injured.

Detectives from the Fairfax County Police Major Crimes Division of the police department responded and have assumed primary responsibility for the criminal investigation.

The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office will also conduct an internal investigation and the deputy will be placed on routine administrative leave, police said. Police said at a morning news conference that the deputy has been with the Sheriff's Office for 18 years.

Anyone who might have witnessed this incident is asked to contact the Fairfax County Police Department at 703-691-2131.

Watch a video here of a press conference held Tuesday morning by the Fairfax County Police Chief Lt. Col. Edwin Roessler Jr. and Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid:

Photos: Fairfax Inova scene courtesy of FCPD; photo of object held by suspect courtesy of FCPD.