It was an arsenal.
That is what Fairfax County Police found Monday night in the home of Michael Kennedy, at 6200 Prince Way in Centreville.
According to the search warrant’s inventory list, police found six rifles, a 12-gauge shotgun, six BB-type rifles and pistols, 12 knives, a bayonet, ammunition, and a Colt 9 mm pistol with one round in the chamber that was found under the mattress in the master bedroom.
Fairfax Police Chief David Rohrer said Wednesday afternoon that police still had not spoken directly to Kennedy’s parents, Brian and Margaret, who own the Centreville home and who have only talked to authorities through a family lawyer.
Rohrer said he wanted to know where Kennedy, 18, got the seven guns he used on Monday to kill Detective Vicky Armel, 40, and injure two other officers at the Sully District police station.
Kennedy was armed with an AK-47-style assault weapon; a long-barreled, high-power rifle; five handguns; and extra ammunition.
Rohrer said police were also interested in learning more about the teenager’s background.
According to the warrant, police found a letter from the National Rifle Association; several bills from area hospitals and mental facilities; a handwritten note from Kennedy regarding shooting the dog; Kennedy’s suicidal writings; and contraband used for drugs.
Fairfax County police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings said Brian Kennedy is a registered gun owner.
Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Horan said Kennedy’s parents would have to have known of or cooperated in some way with their son’s actions to face criminal charges. “Short of that, there is no criminal liability. There may be possible civil liability; even that is tenuous at best,” said Horan, who added that his office has never legally dealt with Kennedy’s parents.
The 53-year-old officer hit by five bullets Monday is still in critical condition, but shows signs of improvement, Rohrer said.
Kennedy still would have been free
Three weeks prior to Monday’s shootout, Michael William Kennedy, 18, of Centreville, had carjacked a truck to get home after leaving a Rockville mental health facility. His family hired a bail bondsman to cover his $30,000 bond. “Over here [in Fairfax], they are almost always held without bond,” said Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Horan Jr. The bond was set based on the incident being Kennedy’s first known violent act, said Charles Peters, Montogomery County administrative commissioner. Kennedy’s other Fairfax County charges were not known, he said. “If a higher bond had been set, the likelihood [is] the bond still could have been satisfied and he would have been released,” Peters said.
– Christy Goodman
