Twice this weekend, area police said they were forced to kill armed suspects who were preparing to fire at police, highlighting what authorities said is an ominous trend in which police are targeted by gunmen willing to shoot it out.
Saturday afternoon, a Fairfax County police officer shot and killed a man outside Maggiano’s Little Italy Italian restaurant in Tysons Corner. Police said the man, a former employee at the restaurant, refused to put down a gun that he pointed at the officer.
Friday night, a Seat Pleasant officer shot and killed a carjacking suspect after police say the suspect pulled out a handgun during a traffic stop. It marked the ninth time this year a police officer in Prince George’s county killed a suspect. Eight of those deaths have come from county police, up five from 2007.
Though law enforcement officials say instances of violence against officers is on the rise in some Washington area suburbs, the reasons are far from clear to police.
“We’re looking at more homicides that are hard to explain,” said Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey. “There’s a flash point reaction. Police used to be in a different category, but that’s not the case anymore.”
In July, Prince George’s County police Cpl. Richard Findley was killed when a suspect ran him down with a stolen truck. Findley opened fire, but to no avail. Since then, at least two more times, suspects have tried to run down Prince George’s police officers with cars. They did not succeed, but in both cases, officers opened fire, and one of the targets was wounded.
In Arlington, an officer narrowly escaped with his life after a man whom police believe had just murdered his wife shot the officer at point-blank range during a traffic stop.
Had it not been for a bulletproof vest, the officer would have died. A police spokeswoman there said she’s seen an increase in the number of officers reporting being attacked by suspects.
Possible reasons for the local spate of violent episodes include last year’s expiration of a federal ban on assault rifles that has led to larger bullet magazines on the streets as cause for the rise violence, local officials said. In Prince William County, a spokeswoman said detectives are finding more guns in the street. It’s the same in Prince George’s, officials said.
The local trend is not matched by any national upsurge in violence against police officers, at least that can be measured by statistics such as the number of officers killed on duty. The number of officers shot to death rose in 2007 to 68 from 54 the year before. Final figures for 2008 are not available, but so far they are on track to be lower than last year.
Ivey pointed to an increase in the number of homicides that stem from simple arguments boiling over. The recent shooting death of a 14-year-old on a Montgomery County bus, Ivey said, was a recent example of such killings.
“Somebody loses their temper over something and it just escalates,” Ivey said.
The violence on the streets, and particularly that which is directed toward police, has caused the jump in police fatally shooting suspects in Prince George’s, officials said.
“What’s going on in the county is that we’re experiencing a level of violence that we haven’t seen in years past,” Prince George’s County police union President Vince Canales said. “Suspects are simply more likely to pull out a gun and start shooting and officers are simply responding to that threat.”
