Vigil Held For McLean Man Killed By U.S. Park Police

MCLEAN, VA — Friends and family of Bijan Ghaisar of McLean, who was killed by US Park Police, was held Thursday night on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Ghaisar, 25, was shot three times in the head and died in late November.

U.S. Park Police have released few details about the shooting, including why the two officers fired their weapons. Officers were pursuing the victim, who they say was involved in an earlier crash near Slaters Lane and the George Washington Memorial Parkway in the City of Alexandria on Nov. 17. Ghaisar died on Nov. 27 from his wounds.

Ghaisar’s father, James Ghaisar, told mourners Thursday that his son had a big heart and left the world a better place for everyone. “Although his life was unjustly, unfairly, untimely, violently taken as an un-unarmed [sic] man, his dream of a peaceful world remains with us to fulfill,” his father said, reports WTOP.

Bijan Ghaisar suffered severe brain damage, his family said in a statement to The Washington Post. His family says he was unarmed and is waiting for an explanation as to why the officers shot him. He was a Langley High School graduate who worked at his family's accounting firm."The reason for the murder of our son has yet to be determined though no reasoning could possibly justify the actions of the one or more Park Police officers involved in this unthinkable act," the family's statement reads.

Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler Jr. has called for the release of video footage showing the fatal U.S. Park Police shooting in Fort Hunt. Roessler said in a press conference Monday that a Fairfax County police cruiser recorded the shooting; his department has turned over the in-car video to the FBI for the investigation. The two Fairfax County officers providing backup did not discharge their weapons in the shooting.

Roessler did not comment on the content of the video but has called for the video to become public once it no longer interferes with the investigation. He acknowledged that he could release the video himself because it's his agency's property, but said he did not want to interfere with the FBI probe.

"The in-car video should not be held until the conclusion of the FBI's investigation, which could potentially take many more months or more," Roessler told reporters. "It's important for the information it contains to be shared with the Ghaisar family and our community so we can all start to understand the facts of this officer-involved shooting."

An FBI spokeswoman said she couldn't say if or when the video will be released, the Associated Press reported.

The two U.S. Park Police officers have been on administrative leave since the shooting, according to WUSA.

Image courtesy Ghaisar family