Mount Vernon — Fairfax County Police shot a 61-year-old man who confronted them with a knife during the process of attempting to serve him with an arrest warrant for destruction of property. The wounded subject was “noncompliant,” according to the information provided by the police department. The shooting occurred at an apartment in the 5700 block of Old Mill Court on Monday, May 28. Four officers were involved in the incident.

According to police, the officers were familiar with the individual through prior police contacts. When officers knocked on the door, the door was opened and officers were confronted with a man armed with a knife. The man refused to drop the weapon and was subsequently shot once in the upper body. Precise details are still under investigation. Officers rendered first aid at the scene and the man was flown to the Inova Fairfax Hospital where he is undergoing treatment for the wound.

Virginia Citizens Coalition for Police Accountability, Inc. (CCPA) founder Nicholas Beltrante reacted to the incident: “From news accounts there were four police officers who attempted to serve a man with an arrest warrant. He responded by confronting the police with a knife. Their response was to shoot him with a gun. Every means at their disposal, other than the use of lethal force, should be used by the police prior to the use of lethal force.

“Were the police or a citizen in imminent danger and the use of lethal force was their only option? Why didn’t the police use a bean bag gun or Taser before resorting to the use of a gun? What is going on here cannot be avoided any longer by the elected supervisors and the police chief. We need a thorough outside investigation of the internal affairs of a police department that appears to have a policy that disregards its own General Order 540.1 regarding the use of lethal force. As matters stand now in the absence of citizen oversight, the so-called thin blue line will likely exonerate the police officers on this latest shooting.”