RESTON, Va. — A woman is dead and a Fairfax County Police officer is in the hospital recovering after a welfare check took a violent turn in Reston on Monday.
Officers were called to a third-floor apartment in the area of the 12800 block of Sunset Valley Drive around 10 a.m. to conduct a welfare check.
The officer, who was in full uniform with his body-worn camera on, knocked on the woman's door. According to Police Chief Kevin Davis, the woman answered the door, and immediately slammed it in the officer's face.
The officer, who has not been identified ─ but who Davis said is trained in crisis intervention, kept knocking on the woman's door in an effort to get her help. Davis said a few minutes later, the woman answered the door armed with a knife and began slashing at the officer's face multiple times.
The officer repositioned himself and told her to back up before he was forced to protect himself, the chief said. The officer fired his gun multiple times. The woman collapsed to the ground. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Davis described the woman as being 33 years old, about 6-foot-5 and 330 pounds.
“Our officer was the victim of an unprovoked violent attack,” Davis said.
The officer was hospitalized for treatment of slashing stab wounds to the face, but those wounds are not thought to be life-threatening.
According to the chief, neighbors had called the cops on the woman just a day before. Davis said neighbors reported the woman was yelling at a man who was walking his dog. Davis said he would not describe the incident as violent, and she was not arrested because no crime had been committed.
Davis said he hopes to have the body camera of the encounter released to the public quickly.
"Body camera video tells a story. I see it as my responsibility to immediately share that with the community," he said.
The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation.