An armed assailant stormed into the Virginia district office of a prominent Democratic congressman and injured two staff members who were working Monday morning. The lawmaker was unharmed when an assailant stormed into his district office and assaulted staff members with a bat after asking about the lawmaker’s location.
A man entered the Fairfax district office of U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly looking for the legislator. The man was armed with a baseball bat that he swung at people working in the office, according to a statement by Connolly.
Police were called to the scene shortly after 10:30 a.m.
The attacker hit a senior aide in the head with a metal bat. Using the bat, he also hit an intern in the side. It was her first day in the position, CNN reports.
”This morning, an individual entered my District Office armed with a baseball bat and asked for me before committing an act of violence against two members of my staff,” Connolly wrote in a statement. “The individual is in police custody, and both members of my team were transferred to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Right now, our focus is on ensuring they are receiving the care they need.”
In a statement, U.S. Capitol Police identified 49-year-old Xuan Kha Tran Pham as the suspect charged with aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding.
“At this time, it is not clear what the suspect’s motivation may have been,” according to Capitol Police. “Based on what we know right now, investigators do not have any information that the suspect was known to the USCP.”
Connolly’s office was extensively damaged due to the attacker, who is a constituent in his district but unknown to him. The attacker broke the glass in a conference room and destroyed computers.
Members of Congress have offices in their home districts where constituents can come to ask for assistance navigating federal programs or agencies or otherwise inquire about ways in which their elected representative can serve them.
Those offices are accessible to the public out of necessity. Members of Congress do not have 24-hour personal security protection.
“The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating,” Connolly wrote.
Earlier in the day, the suspect allegedly attacked a person who was sitting in her car. After he asked her whether she was white, he smashed her car’s windshield with a bat, according to police, D.C.’s NBC affiliate WRC reports. Officials will charge him with a hate crime and for destroying property for that incident.
A spokesperson for the City of Fairfax Police Department indicated in a statement to The Advocate that a “police officer also sustained a minor injury and is receiving medical treatment.” By Monday evening, everybody who was seen at area hospitals had been released.
The suspect is Xuan Kha Tran Pham.
Virginia’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, condemned the attack online.
“Violence does not belong in our political system and my prayers are with Rep. Gerry Connolly’s staff for a speedy recovery,” Youngking wrote on Twitter. “We’ve seen this against our judiciary, we’ve seen this against our legislative branch and it has no place in our Commonwealth.”
In October, after then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked in the couple’s San Francisco home, Youngkin made light of the incident and joked about the attack while on the campaign trail.
He later apologized.
