Investigators Head To Park Police Shooting Scene In Fort Hunt

FORT HUNT, VA—Investigators are returning to the scene of the Nov. 17, 2017 shooting of Bijan Ghaisar in Fort Hunt.

Sources told WTOP investigators are working for hours at Fort Hunt Road and Alexandria Avenue, where Ghaisar was fatally shot in the head. Spokesman for the FBI Washington Field Office and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia did not comment on the specific work happening at the scene.

Fairfax County Police notified residents that Fort Hunt Road was closed for much of the day between Baltimore Drive and Paul Springs Parkway.

In the seven months since the shooting, Ghaisar's family has called for transparency in the investigation and for Park Police to release the identity of the two officers who shot him. The officers have not been publicly identified, but a Park Police spokesman told WTOP the officers remain on administrative leave.

The FBI Washington Field Office and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia have taken up the investigation but have provided no major updates.

Ghaisar, an accountant from McLean, had been pursued by Park Police down the George Washington Memorial Parkway after fleeing from a hit-and-run in Alexandria, where his vehicle was rear-ended in a left turn lane. Fairfax County Police in-car video shows Ghiasar stopping several times during the pursuit, and two officers approach Ghaisar's car with weapons drawn before Ghaisar drives away. The third time, Ghaisar stopped at Fort Hunt Road and Alexandria Avenue, where the two officers fired nine shots at him while he tried to drive away.

His family said he was shot several times in the head and died 10 days later.

The Ghaisar family released the following statement Thursday about the investigation:

On a November night last year, two U.S. Park Police officers shot our son and brother as he sat unarmed in his Jeep on the side of the road. They fired nine times, hitting him with four bullets to the head and one to the wrist. Our funny, loving Bijan died 10 days later. In the more than 200 days since then, the lack of any transparency and accountability around his killing or who did it has been devastating for our family - second only to the unimaginable anguish of losing him forever. We hope the events today are an indication of progress in the investigation and a step closer toward justice for a young man whose bright future was needlessly taken.

Image via Fairfax County Police