Shooting Of Springfield Woman Holding Knife Shown In Police Video

SPRINGFIELD, VA — Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis on Thursday released body-worn camera footage and 911 calls for a July 19 officer-involved shooting that injured a 30-year-old woman at a group home in Springfield.

At 5:18 p.m. on July 19, two Fairfax County police officers responded to a call from the group home in the 8000 block of Gosport Lane in Springfield. A caretaker at the home who called 911 said a woman was threatening to harm others inside the home. When they arrived at the home, the two officers entered the home through a back door and were confronted by the woman.

The woman, Jiyoung Lee, a resident of the Springfield group home, was taken to a local hospital where she was treated for the gunshot wound in her upper body. Lee is expected to survive the shooting. The Fairfax County Police Department has charged Lee with assault on a law enforcement officer.

The police department had been called to the same group home "on more than one occasion," Davis said in a July 19 news conference after the shooting. The Springfield residence serves as a group home for people with intellectual disabilities.

At a news conference Thursday, Davis said the officer who shot Lee had undergone Crisis Intervention Team training. Davis said both officers made attempts to deescalate the situation with Lee — who appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis — by yelling at her to drop the knife and to stop.

"All of us could see she was in crisis," Davis said at the news conference after showing the bodycam video footage.

In the video, two officers are seen entering the backdoor of the home with their handguns drawn. Lee, who was holding what appears to be a kitchen knife, is yelling and says, "I'm not going to stop" in response to the officers' calls for her to "stop right now." The video does not appear to show any other person inside the kitchen or near Lee at the time the police initially see her inside the kitchen with a knife.

As she nears the doorway to the kitchen, advancing toward the police officers, an officer who is standing in a dining room area shoots her in the upper body. He then quickly drags her from the kitchen into the dining area and yells, "God dammit."

The two officers then begin providing aid to the woman while requesting that fire and rescue personnel be dispatched to the house.

An officer tells the dispatcher that Lee has been "hit in the stomach." With her still conscious but crying in pain, the officers tell Lee to "keep breathing" as they apply pressure to the gunshot wound.

As an officer goes back to the police vehicle to retrieve rubber gloves, the other officer tells Lee that rescue personnel are on their way. She yells out, "It hurts."

"I know it hurts," the officer responds. "I have to apply pressure."

In the 911 call, the caretaker tells the emergency dispatcher that Lee said she wants to kill her and kill herself. At the time, the caretaker, who was calling from inside the home's kitchen, said Lee did not have a weapon.

The caretaker also told the dispatcher that Lee had not hurt anyone. Two other residents were inside the home at the time of the 911 call, the caretaker said.

The caretaker eventually leaves the kitchen to escape from Lee. At the end of the 911 call, Lee can be heard yelling as the police enter through the backdoor, followed by the sound of a gunshot.

Davis said Lee posed a threat to the police officers and two people in the group home who were sheltering in place in the basement. If the police officer had not shot Lee, "we could have had a double homicide on our hands," he said.

Both officers did not have Tasers with them or in their police vehicle, Davis said. The situation on July 19 likely would not have lent itself to the use of a Taser to deescalate the situation inside the group home, he added.

A criminal investigation into the use of force is being conducted by the department's Major Crimes Bureau. Davis also instructed the department's Internal Affairs Bureau to conduct an administrative investigation in accordance with policy, along with an independent review by the police auditor.

The police officer who shot Lee has been placed on restricted duty as the investigation continues.

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