A bank robbery suspect whom police killed on Wednesday had refused to surrender andwas reaching into a bag containing box cutters when he was shot by a Fairfax County officer, according to details released Thursday by the Police Department.
Edward R. Agurs Jr., 39, of Woodbridge, robbed a Wachovia bank at 7706 Richmond Highway that morning by passing the teller a note announcing a robbery, police say. After fleeing the bank, Agurs attacked an officer who tried to stop him and fled into an apartment building on Fordson Road, according to Fairfax County Police spokesman Lt. Richard Perez.
Officers in pursuit found a door to a dark crawl space within the building, into which they sent a police dog who found the suspect hiding inside, according to a department release. Agurs attacked the dog. Two officers followed and pepper-sprayed him when he refused to surrender.
“He still refused to surrender and reached into his backpack,” the release stated. “Despite both officers’ commands to show his hands, Agurs refused and was shot by one officer.”
Five shots were fired, striking Agurs in the upper body and killing him. Police said they found bank money and two box cutters after searching the bag.
The name of the officer who shot Agurs, a 50-year-old department veteran, is not being released. As is typical in police shootings, he has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
Perez would not comment on whether the shooting was justified, citing the ongoing investigation. He said department policy justifies deadly force “when an officer perceives that his life and the lives of others are in jeopardy.”
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald Connolly said he believes police “exercised best judgment under the circumstances to protect lives.”
Police believe Agurs was responsible for two other bank robberies in Fairfax County.
