Good afternoon. Today, we will be releasing the body worn camera video footage from the double homicide officer involved shooting that happened this past February in the Mantua neighborhood. First, we'll play the video for you and then Chief Davis will provide remarks and answer any additional questions. >> At approximately 5:06 a.m. on February 23rd, 2026, officers from the Mason District Station were dispatched to an apartment in the 3900 block of Persimmon Drive in Mantua for an assault with a weapon call. A man was reported to be armed with an unknown weapon assaulting multiple people. Additional 911 calls were received from neighbors reporting screams and an injured woman banging on the door. >> 72911, what is the address of your emergency? >> I I'm at I'm Persimmon Drive apartment. Um my husband won't let me in the middle of the night someone banging on the door. He's bleeding a lot. He's a shaky blood a little bit. I can't really see through the door. And he stopped banging on our door. I wanted to let him in but my husband won't let me. >> Okay. >> Cuz he's scared. >> All right. Well, we do have officers in route to your location. Okay, now what I'm hearing is What I'm hearing in the background is that comes from the other apartment? >> He's outside our door. >> Okay. You're all right? Okay. All right. >> Okay, the police are here. >> We have several officers on the way. Okay. >> I see them. They're coming. They're coming. Thank god. Okay, they're here. They need to run past our door. See them coming now. >> Yes, ma'am. Okay, you okay? Do you need any uh >> We're fine. >> Okay, are you secure inside of your apartment? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. We do have officers on the scene and several more on the way. >> All right, thank you. I hear them coming. The officers are here. >> All right. Okay. Thank you, ma'am. >> All right, thank you. Bye. >> 445 Alpha, there's a back of yelling coming. I'm coming inside. >> Yep. >> That's why we're here. FAIRFAX COUNTY POLICE, MA'AM, ARE YOU OKAY? OKAY, COME OVER HERE. COME HERE. COME HERE. COME HERE, AKEED. COME HERE. COME UP. >> 445 ALPHA, WE GOT A female covered in blood here. Screaming out the door. >> Ma'am, can you come up here? >> Ma'am, are you over there? >> Upon arrival at the scene, officers encountered an adult female victim suffering from severe trauma outside of the apartment door. The officers then made entry into the apartment and observed a male suspect, later identified as Chhatra Thapa, 54, armed with a knife kneeling over an adult male victim. Officers issued repeated verbal commands for Thapa to drop the knife. He failed to comply and continued the assault, and one officer discharged his firearm striking Thapa multiple times. >> Go upstairs. I hear a kid screaming inside. All right, ma'am, can you Fairfax County Police, OPEN THE DOOR. HEY. PUT THE KNIFE DOWN. [screaming] DROP THE KNIFE. DO IT NOW. DROP THE KNIFE. >> OFFICER, I HEARD SHOTS FIRED. >> LET ME GET HIM. I got to get her help. Hey, PUT THE KNIFE DOWN. DROP [screaming] THE KNIFE. DROP THE KNIFE. DROP THE KNIFE. I GOT IT. NORTH 155 OFFICER shots fired. Hey. >> [crying] >> Hey. Hey. Get the lights. Get the lights on this side. Hey, the kid. Come on, kid. Come on, buddy. Come on. Hey. Hey. Hey. Give me light. Give me the light on the light. Hey, you. He's the He's the guy Ouch. Okay, we have two victims here, okay? We're going to start working on them. He's got the weapon. He dropped it. Yeah. Uh I didn't see where it fell. Uh Here. The guy is out here. Here. Get his arms and get his legs. We'll get him out. There's another victim on the on the mattress. >> Hey, let's flip him over. Put him in handcuffs. >> No, no, no. He's a He's a victim. He's the suspect. Okay. Hey, check pulses. We need to start CPR on some of these, I think. All right. Check check for injuries, okay? >> Yeah, we got uh >> Is she breathing? >> No. >> Start CPR. >> A little bit more over. >> Yeah, he's got >> Here. You I got to feed you >> I'm going to need help with his arm. >> Okay. You got more gloves? >> Send fire in. Hey, can someone get fire to come in? >> Is it cold? >> Officers determined there were three stabbing victims at the scene, an adult male and two adult females, as well as a 1-year-old child who was unharmed. The officers immediately rendered medical aid to all three victims and the suspect until relieved by Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department personnel. The suspect was pronounced deceased on scene. The three victims were transported to a local hospital in life-threatening condition. The two adult females were later pronounced deceased. >> Good afternoon, everyone. Uh that's quite a video to watch and I know there's folks in this room to include the local news media who have uh seen body camera footage in the past of critical incidents where um there there's a loss of life, but but this this scene and I and I described it on the on the day of on February 23rd and with snow falling as a as a bloodbath and uh I reflect back on that um and I I wonder if in fact our 2 and 1/2-year veteran police officer uh saved a quadruple murder from happening. And by the time he entered that apartment to save lives while risking his own life, two lives had already been taken. And I'm convinced the more I I know about what happened on February February 23rd and certainly the more I watch that video that if not for the actions of our police officer, heroic, decisive, disciplined actions, that we would have had two more victims on our hands. So, we value every life and it it's it's sad, it's tragic that the patriarch of a family would take the life of his wife and his daughter. So, I think we're still trying to wrap our minds around that. I know our victim services division continues to work with the family and several other folks, advocates and and even elected officials from other jurisdictions. But, we're all still trying to wrap our our minds around motive and just the just the violent nature of of this killing inside that apartment on that snowy morning in February. So, I'm going to open it up for for questions. I I I do want to remind everyone that we remain committed as an agency to not only the transparency associated with this news conference and releasing body camera footage. It's something we've been doing for four or five years now, but we remain committed to a thorough criminal investigation. There always is a criminal investigation. We remain committed to a thorough administrative investigation. We work with the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. Ultimately, they determine if the actions taken that day were were lawful. But, we're in a day and age now of body cameras and and the body cameras tell us stories now much faster than stories used to be told. So, that's why I feel confident saying to you that that our young police officer not only saved lives, but he acted in compliance with the law. He acted certainly within our policy. I've remarked on several occasions to our training commanders and others that those quick actions, decisive quick actions in a really tough environment were only because of the quality of our training on the Fairfax County Police Department. So, that the training builds the muscle memory. It it it just it ingrains in these officers what we expect them to do when lives are at risk. And certainly lives were at risk on on this on this very morning. So, I will pause there and and open it up for any questions. I'll start with Bob. >> Chief, why did you want to get this out today? Why was this important for you for the community to see this? >> Well, you know, for the last several years since we, you know, instituted on our own a policy that's really a promise to the community to to let people see, let the folks of Fairfax County and beyond see what we do, why we do it. We bet on ourselves 10 times out of 10. So, the actions that we take as police officers should be and are subject to to scrutiny, subject to review, all types of review, and this is no no different. So, I think when folks hear that two lives were taken by a patriarch, by a father of of of a family, and then we were compelled, thanks to two 911 calls, one of them coming from the son-in-law before he went back in to the apartment, to to get there and to take action, and that action includes the use of deadly force. We know that our community wants to hear from us. They they want to know why we did it. They want to know what the circumstances were. They want to know if there were alternatives available to us. Parentheses, there were not. Absolutely not. It's just our promise to the community. And and even as I stood there back on February 23rd and and described the the weapon that this this man and Chhatra Tapa, 54 years old, was using to murder his wife and his daughter. Um I now know that that knife is called a Dao. Um the Dao is a Nepali chopping knife or cleaver and it's designed for butchery, for cutting dense bone. So that Dao, d a u, is a Nepali knife and the blade on it is about 12 in and the handle is about 4 and 1/2 in. So that's what he was armed with and you you see the footage when our officers enter the apartment, um the Tapa was had already stabbed his son-in-law several times and was going to keep stabbing him to death if not for the actions of our young police officer who was several feet away and I know we blurred a lot of the images in the video, but in between the officer and Tapa was his already killed wife and she's prone out on the floor of that apartment and the baby. So they were all in a direct line. His daughter was the first person you see in that video. She was out in the hallway. She was the one screaming for help that compelled another person inside the inside the apartment building to call 911. So a lot going on there, Bob, but you know, we released it because it's the right thing to do and it's what our community expects us to do and and we're glad to honor that. >> Yes, sir. >> Chief of WTOP, do we have any motive from Chapa? Do we have any understanding of why he did this? Was there any prior 911 calls, a history of trouble in the apartment? >> That's the $64,000 question. We don't have motive right now. There's no history of calls for service at the apartment. There's no criminal history associated with Tapa. The only thing we do know and I want to gently talk about this is that he has a history of some challenges with mental illness from what our detectives and our victim services specialists now know. A lot of people have fallen to that category. So, that's not necessarily a motive that's concrete and carved into stone, but from what we know now thanks to the the surviving victim, the son-in-law, who miraculously survived that that knife attack and he's spoken to detectives and others. There's nothing that happened that morning. There was no argument or confrontation that occurred the night before. There's the there there there's nothing there that we can really touch. The only thing we do know with certainty is that he's had some challenges with mental health, but so do a lot of people and it doesn't result in a slaughter like that. >> And nothing would cross the line to being a mass homicide. That's what you're saying. >> Correct. So, if we eventually discover a motive, we'd be glad to share it. I'd certainly the first person in the world who would share with you motive, but we don't have a a hard and fast motive that we feel comfortable articulating. But, >> Chief, what is the status of your officer? How is he doing and the one who was standing next to him? >> Yeah, so both the officers, both young, and they're all young to me now at this point, sadly. Um 2 and 1/2 years. He's on restricted duty, which is the norm, and he's just in an alternate duty status while the investigations run its course and while the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office reviews this officer involved shooting. The other officer, you can see that he he's the second one to enter the apartment. First one on the scene, he's trying to call the the daughter who's bleeding to death at the bottom of the stairs. He's trying to call her to the top of the stairs while he waits for his backup officer to get there, and then they kind of flip-flop. The discharging officer goes in first and and the officer who's on the scene first goes in kind of second or simultaneous. >> Do your officers go through any sort of PTSD training or any sort of counseling? To watch something like that's quite traumatic. To be involved in it has got to be horrifying. Will they go through any sort of training, any sort of >> Yeah. >> counseling? >> So, the the follow-up that we have our wellness division is first class and we're probably the only police department that I know of that has a a wellness program that covers both police and fire. That in and of itself is unique. So, the interactions that our officers who were involved in these critical incidents um have with clinicians, with peer support, with their commanders, with their squad um is is robust. So, all those things that you can imagine are being afforded to both of our officers and to the other cops who responded to the scene. Cuz they responded to a chaotic environment as well and they had to rescue the baby um from the apartment. Uh thank God he wasn't harmed. I do think uh that that his death was absolutely inevitable if if we didn't get there. So, all those things are are underway and then and we're we're proud to deliver those types of services to the men and women who do this difficult job. Yes, ma'am. >> Can you describe the scene back on the day as one of the worst you've seen in in your career? For these young officers just 2 and 1/2 years on the job, what do you think what's going through their mind as they approach this kind of scene and seeing just the carnage already from the outside before they even open that door? >> Well, in in a moment like this, a crisis that's in progress and you don't have any other any other choices but to act, your training kicks in. It certainly speaks to the type of people these officers are, but beyond that, it's what level of training do do we deliver to our recruits in the police academy and and beyond. So, our training is scenario-based. Our use of force training, particularly our deadly use of force training, is the best I've ever seen and I've been in four big places. So, I think that training builds muscle memory, builds confidence. So, you can imagine their blood is pumping, their heart rates are up. It's a chaotic moment, but because they're so well trained, I'm convinced of this, that they were able to center themselves and survive that moment and and save other lives in the in the progress in the process. Any bar? >> You never want to second-guess anyone being in the situation. What is your advice for someone who hears someone banging on their door screaming >> Yeah, so the 911 caller, she she wasn't a bystander. She picked up the phone and called 911 and I think she articulated to the 911 call taker. The 911 call taker did a first job. You know, Scott Broman runs our uh Department of Public Safety Communications and he calls our 911 call takers and our dispatchers the the first of first responders or something like that. Cuz cuz they really they really are first responders. So, they did a great job interacting with her. I think they said stay inside. I think she said my husband's here, he doesn't want me to go outside. So, I I'm not comfortable giving someone just clear and concise advice with for a hypothetical, but I will say this with certainty, call 911. And and certainly she did call 911 and gave us information that that helped us you resolve that in a way where four people weren't killed. Two were tragically and and it could have been a lot worse. As bad as it was, that could have been a lot worse. >> Do you know where that the little boy is? >> I think initially he was in protective he was with Child Protective Services. Now, he's with a family member of our surviving victim who I think is still in the in the hospital. His his wounds were were serious and you know, that that dow d A U, DAO, that that's a big knife. And I don't know if we have pictures of it. Um Yeah, there there it is. So, I I called it a meat cleaver that the day cuz that's what it looks like to me. Uh but certainly, you know, that's what he had in his right hand. And when the officer was telling him repeatedly to to drop it. And he came right down again on his son-in-law. He had already stabbed his son-in-law several times. >> So, just to clarify though, Chief >> There's no injuries to the baby. The The baby was not Is we see the the officer gets the child out of there. There's no injury to the child, no superficial or any sort of injuries we can tell. >> None. None, thankfully. No injuries to the baby. Yes, ma'am. >> Chief, just a few hours after this shooting and stabbing in Mantua, not that far away in Hybla Valley, we saw this stabbing involving Ms. Stephanie Minter. There have been calls from the Justice Department to calls on the Justice Department to investigate um that stabbing and there's been a lot of interest in this case at the national level. We've heard comments from DHS, from ICE. Do you have any response to that? >> So, you know, I kind of think back to the words of one of my coaches in college and I played rugby. And he told us a couple of things repeatedly and I remember them all these years later. The first thing he said to us is control what you can control. And the second thing he said to us is do your job. So, I'm convinced that the Fairfax County Police Department is doing its job, our job, when it comes to our responsibilities to the community to identify people who commit crimes, particularly those who commit violent crimes, particularly those who repeatedly commit violent crimes. Develop probable cause to arrest them, arrest them, gather evidence, and prepare a case for successful prosecution. So, that falls under the umbrella of control what we can control. So, um you know, I I'm I'm aware that there are other inquiries and there's interest in in the overall circumstances that probably well not probably but involve other aspects of the criminal justice system. Um but I I'm not going to pile on that. I think those those inquiries kind of speak for themselves and and the same conversation that that I have and our leadership has internally with our cops and our detectives let's do our job, do your job, control what you can control um because that's our role in the criminal justice system. That that's just you know I hope that doesn't sound like a non-answer but that is the answer. You know we we have a job to do. We're we're we're mission driven and we owe it to the community to stay focused to not get distracted by things outside of our control and and control what we can control. >> Is there frustration between the police department and the prosecutor's office? Your office said your department has arrested Mr. Jallow numerous times and then he's not always prosecuted for some of those violent crimes. Is there frustration there? >> Well, we develop probable cause to charge people with crimes. Uh the prosecutor's office has to then take that probable cause, take that case, present it in a way that hopefully results in a conviction. There's different There's different thresholds. So while we're operating on probable cause to to charge and arrest and you know we think we get the the right person 99.99 times out of 100. So we are always interested because you know we follow the law. We're you know we're we're we we're law enforcement. We're rule followers. You know we follow rules, we follow the law, we enforce the law. So it's I would I wouldn't want a cop to work for me if that cop wasn't routinely disappointed that other aspects of the criminal justice system fell short of where we'd like them to be. I think that's that's a that's a kind of a norm between police and other parts of the criminal justice system. So again I'll just hearken back to control what you can control do your job um you know great cops and great detectives are routinely over-invested in our work. Uh, we work really hard to to keep communities safe and to hold people accountable for harming other people. So, that level of enthusiasm and interest we have in doing our jobs is something that's very very real. And those are the types of cops and detectives and professional staff that that we want working uh, for us on behalf of the community. >> Chief, one observation, we've just had a chance to watch the first couple minutes of the tape. You've watched it obviously probably 20 or 30 times. The officers are going into a chaotic situation. This man is holding this meat cleaver over one of his family members and maybe dead by this point in time. But, there's no screaming, there's no hollering, there's no cursing, there's commands. You stay over here, you do this. Put the weapon down. Talk about that in terms of the training of going into a situation like that that's it's just chaotic. It's life and death. And having to have the ability to compartmentalize and do what they did. >> So, the professionalism that you described, uh, that heat-of-the-moment professionalism and sometimes during chaotic moments like this one or or similar to this one will result in language being used that isn't always ideal to to hear after the fact. And that's normal, too. Because the cops are also in in crisis. Their lives are are at stake. But, the fact that these two young cops didn't resort to any words or behavior, uh, not that words are are necessarily indicative of a lack of performance or or anything else. It It just speaks to me of of their training. And I I hate to keep going back to it, but it's their training. They were in a moment. They they recentered themselves. Another thing that I think is um indicative of our commitment to hire and train the best cops is 5 years ago we put lights on the gun barrels of the uh firearms that our police officers carry. So, as the first officer opens the door, you can see, if you slow this down and watch it, there's a light on the barrel, the bottom of his gun barrel that he flicks on with his thumb or his forefinger. Um that apartment was pitch black inside. If he had to resort to a light source that was on his gun belt, that would have taken extra seconds. And during those extra seconds >> a spotlight. >> It's a light. It's It's a light. It's a light source. I wouldn't call it a spotlight, but it's a light. That's what I'd call it. >> An LED? >> I don't even know if it's an LED. I'll just say it's a light. But it's on the barrel of the gun. And because we invested in that um equipment, that officer didn't have to find where his um flashlight was. I mean, I remember as a young cop leaving mine in the car half the time or sticking it in my back pocket, and it was about that big. So, our investment in in the best equipment for cops is is absolutely indicative of who we are as an agency. Okay. Thank you all. >> Thanks.