MANASSAS, Va. — Prince William County Police have identified those involved in a stabbing that left one man dead and another hurt at a Manassas training facility Tuesday. Responding officers shot and killed the knife-wielding man.
A preliminary investigation has found that at around 3:30 p.m., officers responded to an apprenticeship training center located at 7016 Infantry Ridge Road for a stabbing in progress. Police learned that two men had been stabbed by a man armed with a knife.
Officers arrived on scene and approached the building, where they say they encountered the armed man at the entrance door. Officers told the man, later identified as 26-year-old Philip Austin Brant of Woodbridge, to drop the knife. Police say Brant moved toward the officers, and the two officers opened fire.
As officers assessed Brant's condition, other officers began searching for the people who were stabbed.
A preliminary investigation found that the stabbing occurred in a classroom within the training center. Brant was in the classroom with one of the victims and several other students. For reasons that are still under investigation, Brant pulled a knife from his backpack and began stabbing the victim several times. Others in the classroom ran out, and Brant continued to stab the man. That man collapsed inside the classroom.
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At one point, Brant left the classroom and stabbed a second person in another classroom. That man was able to get outside, where he collapsed in the parking lot.
Both men were taken to the hospital in critical condition. One of the men, identified as 23-year-old Elijah Islam Safadi of Manassas, died from his injuries.
The other man, a 23-year-old from Fairfax, remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Brant was pronounced dead on the scene.
Both officers who opened fire on Brant have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation led by the Critical Incident Response (CIRT) team. The officers involved were both assigned to uniformed patrol operations. One of the officers has five years of experience, the other has 1.5 years of experience. The officers have not been identified.
Police are still investigating this case. Anyone with information that may be helpful to detectives should contact the Prince William County Police Department tipline at 703-792-7000.
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