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‘Sniper-Style’ Attack, Shootout at Fairfax County Police Station [Updated]

Three Fairfax County police officers were shot—one killed and one seriously injured—in a sniper-style attack and gunfight at the Sully District [Police] Station in Chantilly. One assailant was injured by return fire and died at the scene. Despite earlier reports to the contrary, it is believed that the attacker worked alone.

Fairfax County police stations and Inova Fairfax Hospital increased security after the attacks, and some schools in western Fairfax County were on lock-down for several hours.

The officer killed in the attack is the first officer killed in the line of duty (excluding auto accidents) in the history of the Fairfax County Police Department.

(Ed. Note: While I have been tough on some individual FCPD officers, I have immense respect for the department on-the-whole and my prayers are with the killed and injured officers and their families.)

UPDATED 5/17: The officer seriously injured in the attack has died.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.