A man armed with a metal bat walked into U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly’s office in Northern Virginia on Monday, demanded to see him and used it to wound two staffers, including a female intern on her first day on the job.
The attack is the latest in a sharp rise in violence against lawmakers or people close to them.
Officers arrived within minutes and were able to take the man into custody, Fairfax City police said, adding that two staff members were being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Connolly was out of the office at the time. Representative Connolly said he did not know the motive for the attack and called it “unacceptable and shocking” on Twitter.
The suspect was known to Fairfax police, the Democratic representative said in an interview, adding, “He never threatened us, so it was unprovoked, unexpected and inexplicable.”
“I have no reason to believe that he is politically motivated, but you know, it’s possible that the toxic political environment that we live in makes him angry,” he said. I just wish all of us would take a little more time to watch our manners.”
The intern was shot in the side of the body and his outreach director was hit in the head, Connolly said.
“Both of them are conscious and able to talk,” Connolly said. They were all shocked. Their families are with them.”
The U.S. Capitol Police and Fairfax City Police Department identified the suspect as Xuan Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax City. He is being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on charges of malicious wounding and aggravated malicious wounding.
It was not immediately clear if the man had his own attorney.
“At this time, it is unclear what the suspect’s motive may have been,” the Capitol Police said in a press statement announcing a joint investigation with the Fairfax City Police Department.
Officers from the Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section have been dispatched to Fairfax.
Superintendent Lisa Gardner, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax City police, said officers received a call at about 10:50 a.m. reporting an attack at Connolly’s office in Virginia, just outside the nation’s capital, Washington.
“You could definitely tell that the people inside were scared,” Gardner said. They are hiding. If someone swings a bat, I get scared, too.”
Police arrived about five minutes later, located the suspect at the office and quickly took him into custody without further incident, Gardner said.
One officer required treatment for minor injuries, police said in a news release.
Last month, Tom Manger, chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, testified before Congress about the heightened threat across the country.
Manger said, “One of the biggest challenges we face today is dealing with the dramatic increase in the number of threats against members of Congress – an increase of about 400 percent in the last six years. In the past year, the world has changed and become more violent and uncertain.”
Connolly is serving his eighth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 11th District of Fairfax County, Virginia, located just outside Washington. He told CNN that his office suffered damage, including broken Windows.
Other elected officials in Virginia were quick to condemn the violence.
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, retweeted Mr. Connolly’s statement, calling the attack a “very troubling development.”
Threats to lawmakers and their families have increased dramatically since the events that hit Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021. In 2022, the Capitol Police investigated about 7,500 cases of potential threats against members of Congress. The previous year, they investigated about 10,000 threats against lawmakers, more than double the number four years earlier.
In October 2022, a man broke into the San Francisco home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanded to speak with her, and then struck her husband, Paul Pelosi, in the head with a hammer.
In July, a man tried to stab Representative Lee Zeldin, a Republican running for governor of New York, at an event where he told him, “You’re done.” Zeldin struggled with the man and fell to the ground, but escaped with only a few cuts.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, said: “Violence does not belong in our political system, and I pray for a speedy recovery for Rep. Jerry Connolly’s staff. We’ve seen violence against our judiciary, we’ve seen violence against our legislature, and it has no place in our state.”
