Fairfax Schools Secured On First Day During Police Activity

FAIRFAX, VA—Two Fairfax schools were under secure the building status Tuesday morning, according to the school district. The lockdown ended as of 9:46 a.m. and all students are safe.

Robinson Secondary School and Oak View Elementary School were secured due to police activity in the area. A Fairfax County Police spokesperson told Patch the incident was a traffic pursuit. Two people are in custody.

Cathy Daniel witnessed one of the arrests in her driveway, she told Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler in a letter shared with Patch. She recalls seeing two men fleeing from police from a car on Sideburn Road. One of the men was caught right away, while the other ran into her neighborhood.

She writes,

As I stood looking out the window, suddenly a man came from the direction of my backyard, around the corner of my house on the right, ran past our front door, around our parked car, while looking over his shoulder. He flung open the lid of our large trash can and then dove in headfirst.

Right behind him was the German Shepherd and K-9 officer, who crouched behind our car, yelling at the man, and then released his dog. The dog grabbed the man’s foot, which was sticking up out of the trash can. The officer called his dog back and convinced the man to lift the lid of the trashcan. The officer knelt on one knee, holding his gun up, restraining his dog, while talking to the man in the trash can.

After the man in the trash can had demonstrated that he had nothing left in his hands, my driveway filled with additional police officers, who tipped over the can and handcuffed the man, and then led him out to the EMT and waiting ambulance.

The incident happened on the first day of school for Fairfax County Public Schools.

Image courtesy Cathy Daniel, used with permission