A suspect wielding a baseball bat attacked two congressional staff after asking to speak with Rep. Gerry Connolly at a district office in Northern Virginia on Monday, the congressman said in a statement. The staff were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, he mentioned in the statement.
A man has been brought into custody, a Fairfax City Police, an official informed reporters. “I have the best team in Congress. My District Office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day,” Mr. Connolly said in a statement. “The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating.”
The suspect has been identified as 49-year old Xuan Kha Tran Pham of Fairfax, the police said in a statement. However, the motives of the suspect are not yet clear, they stated adding that he is facing charges for one count of Aggravated Malicious Wounding and one count of Malicious Wounding.
Who is Rep. Gerry Connolly?
Representative Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly represents Virginia’s 11th District, which encompasses Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax in Northern Virginia, and is serving his eighth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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He held the chairmanship of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for five of his 14 years on the board before being elected to Congress. Congressman Connolly is a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation.. Additionally, he also serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Connolly claims he is unaware of the attacker, a district resident who broke computers and caused extensive damage to his office. The attacker also broke glass in a conference room.
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In a phone interview with CNN, Connolly said, “He was filled with out of control rage.” Connolly told CNN that when the attacker drove to his office and entered the building, he was at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a food bank.
