Medals of Valor for Slain Sully Officers
Police Divulge New Details of May Shootout

By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

When the shooting started outside the Sully police station May 8, Fairfax County Detective Vicky O. Armel could have ducked behind her car or run back inside. Instead, she tried to draw fire away from a fellow officer and decided to shoot it out with a deranged teenager carrying far more firepower.

The gunman, wielding an AK-47-type rifle, fired 20 shots at officer Michael E. Garbarino, hitting him five times. But Garbarino stayed on his police radio, instructing people how to respond and avoid danger, praying aloud and then staggering to a helicopter, vowing, "I'm not going to die here."

Armel and Garbarino both died at the hands of 18-year-old Michael W. Kennedy, who was then killed by two other officers. Fairfax County police yesterday revealed powerful new details of the historic shooting to coincide with the announcement of the county Chamber of Commerce's annual valor awards.

"My men and women on May 8 just responded with incredible courage," Fairfax Chief David M. Rohrer said. Rohrer listened to Garbarino's radio transmissions that afternoon, advising where a rescue helicopter could safely land and warning officers from a nearby federal agency to stay away.

"It's what you fear, as a chief," Rohrer said. "We heard this ongoing; we heard the gunfire in the background."

In an 18-page narrative, police filled in many of the missing pieces from their most tragic day, including how two officers from other stations came up with an impromptu plan to ambush Kennedy and end the siege at Sully.

Police said yesterday that Kennedy had tried and failed to steal two vehicles from his neighborhood in Centreville before stealing a white van on his third attempt. He wore camouflage-style clothes, kneepads, a ski mask and a vest loaded with ammunition. Police said he carried an AK-47 type rifle, a .30-06 rifle, four .22-caliber handguns and one .38-caliber handgun.

Kennedy drove the van into the back parking lot of the Sully station at 3:52 p.m. Garbarino, 53, and Armel, 40, had both walked into the lot about the same time and then walked to their cars in separate areas of the lot. Garbarino's shift had just ended, and police think he was sitting in his unmarked cruiser to log off his computer before getting into his car to begin his vacation.

Armel went to her unmarked car to investigate Kennedy's carjacking. She put on her bulletproof vest and was outside her car when Kennedy, on foot and just a few yards from Garbarino, began firing into Garbarino's car.

Garbarino called in the shooting and radioed instructions for a rescue helicopter to land in the station's front lot. Rohrer said Garbarino was probably in and out of consciousness.

"Garbarino prayed and asked God's forgiveness for his sins," the police narrative continues, "all the while continuing to guide his fellow officers."

Kennedy apparently had not spotted Armel. But she somehow attracted his attention to draw him away from Garbarino. She fired seven shots from her 9 mm handgun, police said, and Kennedy then directed his attack toward her.

"She could have left," Rohrer said. "She engaged Mr. Kennedy with a desire to save lives."

Armel was struck in the chest with a .30-06 round that pierced her vest, but she still made it inside her car. She fired four more times at Kennedy, even as she was hit twice more in the legs with AK-47 rounds.

Officer Richard A. Lehr was sitting in another corner of the parking lot, in his sport-utility vehicle, waiting for his shift to begin. He had no police radio and didn't know anyone else had been wounded. He climbed into the back of the vehicle, police said, put on his bulletproof vest, picked up his revolver and started shooting at Kennedy.

Lehr believed he had struck Kennedy in the upper body, knocking him down, police said. But Lehr soon ran out of ammunition. He darted into the station, barely evading Kennedy's gunfire, reloaded and, instead of waiting for the gunfight to end, went back outside.

Officers Mark Dale, a K-9 officer, and Jeffrey Andrea of the Mount Vernon station heard Garbarino on the radio and went to help. Meeting up along Stonecroft Boulevard, the two quickly devised a plan to enter the woods next to the parking lot. Dale had an M-16 rifle and a handgun; Andrea had a handgun.

The two officers began firing through a chain-link fence, woven with plastic slats, once they spotted Kennedy. Kennedy went down, and both officers jumped over the fence -- even though they had no idea whether Kennedy was dead or acting alone. The two are credited with killing Kennedy. Meanwhile, officer William F. Horn and Lt. Boyd F. Thompson led the effort to help pull Garbarino to safety.

Kennedy had recently fled from a mental health facility in Maryland, and was free on bond after a carjacking near the facility. His parents are being investigated by federal authorities for possibly allowing him illegal access to their cache of guns. Their attorney, Richard F. MacDowell, declined to comment last night.

Armel and Garbarino were the first Fairfax officers slain in the department's 66-year history. They and Lehr will receive the first gold medals for valor since 1997. Two others -- a Fairfax police officer in 1994 and a Fairfax firefighter in 1997 -- have received the gold medal since the chamber began recognizing public service bravery in 1978.

For months, Fairfax police declined to discuss the shootings. But they released the narrative yesterday to coincide with the chamber's announcement of the awards, police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings said. The awards will be given at a luncheon March 1.