Crossbow-wielding man shot dead in hourslong police standoff, Virginia cops say
A man tried to run from officers while wielding a crossbow, then was shot and killed during an hourslong standoff, Virginia police said.
The 52-year-old man was the target of a police search after being accused of brandishing a gun toward strangers on two occasions, the Prince William County Police Department said in a July 17 news release.
He waved a firearm in the direction of a stranger walking along a road in Woodbridge during an “unprovoked encounter,” and he had a similar encounter with another stranger the next day, police said.
No one was injured in the brandishing incidents, police said.
Officers located the man at about 2:45 p.m. July 17 near a mall parking lot and tried to get him to surrender peacefully for hours, according to police.
“At one point, officers surrounded the suspect’s vehicle to take him into custody,” police said.
But the man escaped and ran toward the mall with a crossbow, so officers fired at him, killing him, police said.
Officers and community members were not injured in the shooting, according to police.
The regional Critical Incident Response Team is leading an investigation of the incident, police said.
Woodbridge is about a 20-mile drive southwest from Washington, D.C.
