Man Shot By Cop May Have Grabbed 2nd Officer's Gun In Police Cruiser: Fairfax Police Chief

UPDATE: Man Fatally Shot By Cop After Alleged Attack On 2nd Cop Identified

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — The man killed in an officer-involved shooting in the Richmond Highway corridor Thursday had attacked another officer in his police cruiser and may have grabbed the second officer's firearm, Fairfax County's police chief said at a news conference.

Footage of the struggle between the man and an officer at a Citgo gas station, 6241 Richmond Highway, has been circulating on social media and among media outlets. According to police, two police officers fired weapons in the confrontation, one of whom pulled the suspect off the attacked officer and then fatally shot the suspect.

"I might not be able to answer all the questions right now," said Chief Kevin Davis in a Thursday night news conference. "But I think you saw what I saw, and I know what I saw when I watched the body worn camera footage, and I saw a uniformed police officer being attacked inside of his own marked vehicle. That's totally unacceptable."

Davis said the officer was responding to a U-Haul confirmed to have been stolen from Richmond. The officer made contact with the man, who allegedly shoved the officer into his police cruiser and assaulted him, according to Davis. The police cruiser ended up being put in reverse, spinning from the gas station parking lot to the adjacent McDonald's drive-thru parking lot, and striking a parked vehicle.

"All the while our police officer is on his radio making several radio transmissions, and he's being attacked," Davis said. "He also relays during his radio transmission several times that our assailant has his gun."

Warning: This video of the police struggle contains graphic content and language.

Other responding officers heard the officer's message on the radio. Davis said one responding officer fires his gun. Another officer, who Davis called a "hero," believed the attacked officer had been shot and pulled the suspect off the officer. That same officer fired his gun, striking the suspect.

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and will not be identified until next-of-kin notifications are made.

Davis confirmed the officer who the suspect is accused of attacking did not fire his weapon.

"The officers who responded did so quickly, acted with a great amount of bravery, particularly our 24-year-veteran who literally pulled the assailant off of our police officer," Davis said. "I've seen body worn camera footage that shows the assailant literally on top of our police officer who is face down, draped across the driver's side seat of his marked police car."

Based on initial information, Davis believes the suspect was trying to take the officer's weapon. The police chief did not know if the suspect or officer put the cruiser in gear.

Aside from the footage circulating on social media, Davis said body camera footage with audio and commercial surveillance footage will provide more details.

"There's going to be no guesswork about what happened," said Davis. "We certainly take the loss of any life very seriously. But this scene was highly unusual, and I've been on a lot of these scenes. I've never quite seen something like this. That police officer was literally inside of his own police car, fighting for his life."

Patch will update this story as police provide more information.