Shocking video captures suspect in attack on Virginia congressman’s staff chasing woman with baseball bat
Two staffers were hospitalised after a man armed with a metal baseball bat attacked them
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Your support makes all the difference.The man suspected of attacking Virginia congressman Gerry Connolly’s staff with a baseball bat appears to have been captured on a doorbell camera chasing a woman with a baseball bat just minutes before the attack at Mr Connolly’s office.
The footage, uploaded to Twitter, shows a woman screaming while running through a person’s backyard, while being chased by a man holding a bat.
Just minutes later, around 10.50 am, on Monday a suspect turned up at Mr Connolly’s district office and attacked two of his staffers with a metal baseball bat, striking one on the head and the other on the side.
It is unclear if the metal baseball bat used to attack the staffers was the same bat that appears in the doorbell footage video.
The suspect was identified as 49-year-old Xuan-Kha Tran Pham by the City of Fairfax Police Department.
According to a statement from Mr Connolly, the two staffers who were hit received “non-life threatening injures” and were transported to the hospital.
One police officer also sustained minor injuries.
“I have the best team in Congress. My District Office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day. The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating,” Mr Connolly said in a statement.
Fairfax Police said they arrived within five minutes of the call to police and took Mr Pham into custody. He is currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bail on warrants of one count of felony aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding.
Police are unsure of the motive behind the attack on the staffers, but said they were coordinating with the US Capitol Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office.
The attack is the latest in a string of violent threats made against members of Congress.
In February, Representative Angie Craig (D-MN) was attacked outside her Washington DC apartment. Last year, a man attacked then-Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) who was campaigning for governor at the time.
In addition, a man broke into the San Francisco home of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and assaulted her husband Paul Pelosi.
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