Police: Man fatally stabs daughter, wife before being shot dead by officer in Fairfax County

Police: Father killed daughter, wife before shot, killed by officer

Authorities say a father stabbed and killed his daughter and his wife before he was shot and killed by police in Fairfax County.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - Authorities say a man in his 50s stabbed and killed his daughter and wife in their Fairfax County apartment early Monday, then attacked his son‑in‑law before officers arrived and fatally shot him.

Fairfax County Chief of Police Kevin Davis said officers were called around 5 a.m. to the 3900 block of Persimmon Circle in the Mantua area for a reported domestic disturbance. 

The son‑in‑law had been outside clearing snow when he heard a commotion, returned to the apartment, and found his wife wounded and his father‑in‑law armed with a large curved knife. "He hears some type of commotion and rushes back into the apartment and is confronted by a bloodbath of a scene where his wife is stabbed, his mother-in-law is stabbed, the baby is present right in the middle of it all," Davis said.

Police: Man fatally stabs daughter, wife before being shot dead by officer in Fairfax County (Fairfax County Police / @FairfaxCountyPD)

Officers arrived and found the father‑in‑law actively attacking the son‑in‑law with the weapon Davis described as a, "curved, long bladed dagger." After repeated commands to drop the weapon, an officer shot and killed the suspect, Davis said.

The couple’s 1‑year‑old baby was inside the apartment but was not harmed. "To describe this scene as bloody is an understatement," Davis said. "The damage and the chaos and the carnage that was perpetrated by this man in his 50s on his own family is unimaginable."

Davis said the suspect, his daughter, and his wife are dead, and the son‑in‑law remains in grave condition. The incident is still under investigation.

"The turmoil that that man was going through that would somehow compel him to stab in a really brutal way his own family member like that. I can't wrap my head around that," Davis added.

Officer-involved shooting under investigation in Fairfax County

Authorities are on the scene of an officer-involved shooting in Fairfax County.