Fairfax Killer Had Fled Psychiatric Center
Teen Who Fired At Police Freed On Bond in Md.

By Tom Jackman and Cameron W. Barr
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

The teenager who killed a Fairfax County detective in an ambush at a police station Monday had broken out of a Rockville psychiatric center three weeks earlier, then carjacked an SUV to return home to Virginia, court records show.

On April 18, the day he checked himself into the mental health facility, Michael W. Kennedy escaped from the center, then turned himself in that evening at the Sully District police station in western Fairfax -- the same station where the shootings would occur Monday.

On Monday, Kennedy, 18, was carrying an AK-47-style assault rifle, a high-powered hunting rifle, five handguns and extra clips of ammunition as he entered the private police parking lot at the station. He squeezed off 70 rounds before the fierce gun battle with officers ended.

Detective Vicky O. Armel, 40, who was emerging from the police station as the shooting began, tried to return fire and was fatally wounded by several rounds, police said yesterday.

An officer sitting in his car, Michael E. Garbarino, 53, was hit five times, police said. He spent more than six hours in surgery Monday night and remained in critical condition yesterday at Inova Fairfax Hospital, police said. A third officer was slightly wounded by debris kicked up by the gunfire.

Three more officers returned fire in the gun battle. Kennedy was wounded but continued to shoot at police and finally was shot dead by officers, authorities said.

"A number of police officers stood up, faced automatic rifle fire and did their jobs," said Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. "The heroism involved was enormous."

The shootings shocked the county, which had never lost an officer in a line-of-duty shooting. Residents from all over the region made a pilgrimage to the Sully District station to pay their respects. Strangers were collecting money and offering help to the victims' families and the police department.

Officers also were coping with the loss of a well-known colleague who served on both the police and sheriff's forces.

"You go through every emotion there is," said Officer Marshall Thielen, head of the Fairfax police union. "It kind of goes from disbelief, to anger at the individual who did it, then grief. I think most of us will be in that stage until after the funeral."

As the county mourned Armel, a wife and mother of two, Kennedy's history came into clearer focus.

He graduated from Westfield High School in the Centreville-Chantilly area last year and was a part-time student at the Woodbridge campus of Northern Virginia Community College, said Tricia Holser, a school spokeswoman. He was enrolled in a class on campus and also was taking a course online, but Holser said she had no further details about him.

His father, Brian Kennedy, 49, works as a manager in the meat department of the Food Lion grocery store just outside Fairfax City. His mother, Margaret Kennedy, 44, works at a nearby For Eyes optical shop.

Yesterday afternoon, the parents made contact with police through an attorney for the first time since the shootings.

The family issued a statement through the lawyer, saying they were in seclusion and "trying to comprehend the tragic events. . . . They offer their condolences to the family of Detective Armel, a fine and dedicated police officer, and their prayers for the wounded officers and their families." The statement added: "Although Michael was a troubled young man, he was their son, who they have lost."

Police believe Kennedy armed himself at his home in the 6200 block of Prince Way, in the London Towne apartments just off Lee Highway in Centreville. Investigators are not sure who owned the guns but believe they belonged to the family. When police searched the townhouse later Monday, they found "plenty" more guns inside, Horan said. He said he thought the guns were legally owned.

Police are investigating why Kennedy voluntarily checked himself into the Potomac Ridge Behavioral Health Center, the psychiatric treatment facility in Rockville, on April 18. Less than seven hours later, he broke a window and escaped.

Officials at Potomac Ridge declined to say why they were treating him, and they also would not comment on the escape. They issued a statement saying they did not have contact with Kennedy after he left the facility.

Immediately after escaping, at 6:49 p.m., Kennedy approached a man in a Toyota 4Runner sport-utility vehicle and told the driver he had a gun. The man gave the vehicle to Kennedy, who drove it to Virginia, police say.

Later that night, Kennedy turned himself in at the Sully District station on the carjacking charge. He was extradited to Montgomery County on April 21.

The next day, Montgomery County District Court Commissioner Jonathan Lew set bond at $30,000 after reviewing a detective's summary describing Kennedy's escape and the carjacking, court records show.

Lew, who is in his first year on the job and is working under supervision, expected Kennedy to appear for a bond review hearing before a judge the next Monday. But a bail bondsman posted the bond the same day, meaning that Kennedy never had to appear.

Paul Kemp, a criminal defense lawyer and a former president of the Montgomery County Bar Association, said, "The bond seems like a low number to me under the circumstances." Given the severity of the charge of armed carjacking and indications that Kennedy had mental problems, Kemp said he would have expected a commissioner to set bond between $150,000 and $1 million.

Administrative Commissioner Charles Peters said Lew had set "an appropriate bond for the case and the charge."

Peters, who reviewed the case file yesterday, said commissioners have "no authority to order any psychiatric evaluations" of suspects brought before them. Peters said commissioners are instructed to set a bond that will ensure that a suspect returns to face charges and not as a punitive measure.

David Martella, who, like Kemp, is a former prosecutor, said the $30,000 bond "does not seem low in and of itself." He noted that bond is intended to ensure a court appearance and that what seems like a low number to one person might seem astronomical to someone else.

Kennedy had had three encounters with police in recent months, court records and sources said. In February, he was arrested for accidentally shooting and wounding his family's dog. Sources familiar with the investigation said he told police he was suicidal but decided against killing himself and then accidentally fired a handgun.

In March, Kennedy was ticketed for failing to wear a seat belt while a passenger in someone else's truck. And in April, he was charged in the Rockville carjacking.

Police do not know whether that sequence of events led him to launch "an unprovoked attack, an ambush," as Fairfax Police Chief David M. Rohrer described it.

Maj. Robert Callahan, of the police criminal investigations bureau, said: "He was intentionally targeting police officers. It looks to us like he was just looking for as many victims as he could find."

At 3:52 p.m., seven minutes after he carjacked a minivan near his home, Kennedy, wearing a complete Army camouflage outfit, pulled into the Sully District station's rear parking lot, which is reserved for officers. Police said he exited the van and immediately began firing, launching 12 shots at Garbarino, a 23-year veteran who was sitting in his cruiser, preparing to finish his shift. The officer was hit five times and called for help.

"Somebody please help me," Garbarino radioed, according to those who heard the transmission on the police radio. "I don't want to die here."

Kennedy "then walked deeper into the parking lot and encountered Detective Armel," Callahan said. "There was an exchange of gunfire." Kennedy did not say a word.

It was not clear yesterday whether Armel wounded Kennedy in the exchange, but police think he was wounded and continued to fire at other officers until he was killed. Armel was an ace shooter, a former firearms instructor for the sheriff's office and the only woman to be awarded the distinguished shooter's pin in the police or sheriff's department, the police union said yesterday.

Kennedy "continued making his way through the parking lot," Callahan said. An officer who had pulled into the parking lot in his personal car picked up a weapon and began firing at Kennedy, Callahan said.

Two more officers walked out the back door of the station, at least one with a rifle, Callahan said. Horan said Kennedy was wounded and had discarded his rifles but was still firing with one of his handguns when he was killed.

He said he did not think Kennedy's parents could be held criminally liable "unless they had specific knowledge that he's going to kill a police officer. That might present a different question. But I don't think there's any such evidence out there."

Horan said Kennedy probably would not have been free on bond in Virginia. "Most carjackings in this jurisdiction, you don't get a bond," the longtime prosecutor said.

On Kennedy's page on the Internet site MySpace.com (warning graphic images and text), the gunman wrote of himself, "Flow like the wind, sorry to all the people i hurt." On every profile, alongside each user's photo, is a quote, usually from books or movies or songs. Kennedy's is one word: "Ghost."

Staff writers Karin Brulliard, Maria Glod, Ernesto Londoño, Lisa Rein, Candace Rondeaux, Leef Smith and Jamie Stockwell and staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.