Family Of Man Shot By Park Police Demands Closure On Christmas

MCLEAN, VA—Typically the Ghaisar family will go into DC on Christmas Eve to see the National Christmas Tree. Their plans were different 37 days after their loved one Bijan Ghaisar, 25, of McLean was shot by U.S. Park Police. He died ten days after the Nov. 17 shooting, sustaining severe brain damage from shots to the head.

The family gathered outside the U.S. Park Police District Two Station Christmas Eve, just off the George Washington Memorial Parkway where the police chase had began. Bijan's loved ones say he was unarmed during the shooting and has demanded an explanation for officers shooting the Langley High School graduate that worked at the family accounting firm.

His father James, mother Kelly, sister Negeen and brother-in-law Kouros Emami stood outside the station with signs reading "All we want for Christmas is who shot him and why? #WeAreBijan" and a photo of Bijan. “We want everybody here that has stayed silent protecting our son’s shooter to know staying silent is exactly the equivalent of pulling the trigger yourself,” Kelly Ghaisar told reporters, according to WTOP. “So we are demanding that someone start talking about what happened to our son.”

Few details are known about the shooting aside other than two U.S. Park Police having shot Bijan in Fort Hunt not far from the GW Parkway. The identities of the officers have not been released, but they have been on administrative leave since the shooting. Park Police say officers were pursuing Bijan for an earlier hit-and-run in the City of Alexandria.

Calls for transparency have come after the shooting, but those answers may not come until the conclusion of the FBI's investigation into the shooting. Fairfax County officers responding on scene captured the shooting on video, evidence that has been handed over to the FBI. Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors have pressed the FBI to release the video as soon as it does not interfere with the investigation.

Image via Ghaisar family