Man with metallic baseball bat assaults staff at politician’s workplace
A person with a metallic baseball bat has attacked two staff at a politician’s workplace within the US.
Democratic congressman Gerry Connolly stated the person walked into his northern Virginia workplace on Monday morning, requested for him, after which struck two feminine staff with the bat.
One of the victims, an intern on her first day within the job, was struck within the facet, whereas one other, an outreach director, was struck on the top.
Gerry Connolly. Pic: AP
Fairfax City Police stated officers arrived minutes after the assault and detained the person.
Mr Connolly, who’s serving his eighth time period in congress, was not in his workplace on the time.
The accidents suffered by the 2 workers members weren’t life-threatening.
He stated that the suspect was recognized to police, including: “[The suspect] has by no means made threats to us, so it was unprovoked, sudden and inexplicable.
“I have no reason to believe that his motivation was politically motivated, but it is possible that the sort of toxic political environment we all live in, you know, set him off, and I would just hope all of us would take a little more time to be careful about what we say and how we say it.”
A legislation enforcement officer inspects Mr Connolly’s workplace after the assault. Pic: AP
Police named the suspect as Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax.
He is being held with out bond on fees of malicious wounding and aggravated malicious wounding.
He can also be suspected of being concerned in one other assault earlier on the identical day, the place a girl was approached whereas sitting in her parked automotive.
The attacker requested the girl if she was white after which hit her automotive windscreen with a bat earlier than operating away, police stated. The girl was not injured.
A video taken from a neighbour’s digital camera confirmed a person chasing a girl with a bat on the place the place police stated the sooner incident occurred.
Xuan-Kha’s father Hy Pham informed the Washington Post that his son was schizophrenic and had suffered from psychological sickness since his late teenagers.
He had been making an attempt to get psychological well being look after his son, however with out success, he stated.
The US Capitol Police investigated about 7,500 instances of potential threats in opposition to members of Congress final 12 months.
In 2021, the quantity was roughly 10,000, which was greater than twice the quantity investigated 4 years earlier.
Last October, a person broke into the San Francisco residence of then House speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanding to talk along with her earlier than attacking her husband with a hammer.