A Fairfax County police officer was forced to defend himself during a violent encounter with a woman armed with a knife, leading to her death on September 16, 2024. The incident occurred in Reston, Virginia when Officer Peter Liu responded to a welfare check at an apartment complex on Sunrise Valley Drive.
Liu, a 14-year veteran with crisis intervention training, was checking on 33-year-old Sydney Wilson after concerns were raised about her mental health. Wilson, who had previously interacted with police, was known to be in a distressed state.
When Officer Liu knocked on Wilson’s door, she initially slammed it shut. Moments later, she opened the door and rushed at him with a knife, slashing him as he retreated down the hallway. Despite Liu’s repeated commands for her to stop and back away, Wilson continued her attack.
In a desperate act of self-defense, Liu discharged his firearm three times, fatally wounding the knife-wielding Wilson.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis confirmed that the officer followed proper protocol in this life-threatening situation.
“Officer Liu did everything we train our officers to do—he tried to create distance, gave verbal warnings, and used tactical repositioning. Unfortunately, none of these options stopped the violent, unprovoked attack.”
Wilson was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Officer Liu was also treated for injuries to his face but is expected to recover.
This is Fairfax County’s first officer-involved shooting in over a year and a half. The case is under routine investigation, and Officer Liu has been placed on administrative leave pending its conclusion.
The incident has shaken the Reston community, where residents are now processing the tragic event. Chief Davis emphasized that while the loss of life is regrettable, the officer’s actions were necessary to protect himself and others from a deadly threat.
This case highlights the difficult decisions officers face when confronted with unpredictable and violent situations, especially when dealing with individuals in mental health crises.
Additional Comments by Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL)’s Phillip Van Cleave
There is some violence and a little dripping blood in this release of bodycam footage of a Fairfax County police officer-involved shooting.
In the video, an officer makes a welfare check on a suicidal woman. The woman initially opens her door and then immediately closes the door in the officer’s face.
The officer persists in knocking on her door, and suddenly, the door opens. The woman comes out with a large knife in her hand. She slashes at the officer but misses initially. The officer begins backing up quickly to get some distance between himself and the woman. He immediately and properly went to lethal force by drawing his handgun.
He achieved a good distance from her initially, pleading with her to drop the knife and for her to back up. This is where things go south as the officer has backed himself into a corner and allows the woman to get way too close before opening fire.
Unless you do a successful headshot, hit the spine, hit the pelvic girdle, or break a major bone in the leg, often shooting someone doesn’t make them stop their attack instantaneously. Thus, if someone is close to you with a knife and you shoot them, it is very possible, as this officer found out the hard way, that they can still reach you and stab you repeatedly until either they finally lose consciousness due to blood loss, or you manage to hit one of the locations mentioned previously.
Once that woman was within 21 feet or so, it was time for the officer to open fire, as much as he would have hated to do so. He was lucky he wasn’t killed. A slash to his throat, instead of the slash he got on his forehead, could have killed him.
Yes, it’s easy for me to play armchair quarterback. Police work is dangerous, requires split second life-and-death decisions, and can be heartbreaking. I was once in law enforcement myself and have a great respect for most of the people in that occupation.
My intent here isn’t to disparage the officer but to follow this adage: “A smart man learns from his mistakes. A smarter man learns from other people’s mistakes.”
Her name will be honored along with St. Trayvon of Purple Drank, St. Bown the Gentle and St. Floyd of Fentanyl.
He should be given a medal. He did nothing wrong. The crazy lady left him with no other options. He did everything right.
I agree with the conclusions of the author. I do have a caveat to my agreement: the concept that once she was within 21-feet of the officer, “it was time for the officer to shoot…” is misleading to those who may not have had the experience of defending a shooting. This 21-foot idea comes from the Tueller Drill, a scenario to train officers how fast an individual can cross distance and stab the officer. In this drill, the handgun is holstered, the officer is aware of the upcoming attack, and reacts to the threat by firing one round. When any… Read more »
When someone comes at you with an edged weapon gender is no longer a consideration. The cop was LUCKY he did not have his throat cut during the first attack. He did more than I would have done; he backed up and made some distance even as she advanced with the knife and gave her every opportunity to stop. When she tried to cut him again, that is the end of diplomacy as far as I am concerned. We don’t shoot to kill, we shoot to stop the threat but we don’t stop shooting until the threat is no longer… Read more »
i thought that unarmed trained civilian negotiators were being dispatched to calls such as this. are not these negotiators trained to prevent the harm to armed distressed people?
Shee dindunuffins… shee a doktuh an wuz prakticin sirjury… sheeei
Pretty simple calculus: if she were white, and he were black, would you react to the shooting in the same way? Unless the answer is no, there’s no cause to fuss about “racist cops.” But if the answer is no, the problem is with your bias. Utterly justified shooting regardless of the races involved. You might seek to indict a society that lets a mentally disturbed person like that roam free – but that’s a different issue, Clearly, there’s a problem there – and we need to fix it without weeping over the “rights” of violent, unstable, unfit for society… Read more »