Armed Va. Woman Arrested After Scuffle With Guard

A Reston woman armed with a pistol walked into D.C. police headquarters Thursday afternoon and attempted to take a guard's gun before she was wrestled to the ground, authorities said.

Cynthia Nixon, 40, entered the building at 300 Indiana Ave. NW about 3:45 p.m. and pulled out a handgun, police said. She approached a private security officer who was guarding the door, demanding, "Give me your gun," according to charging papers filed yesterday.

Nixon then pointed her handgun at the guard and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire, according to the charging documents.

The guard, who works for Hawk One, which provides security for the building, wrestled the weapon from her, the court papers show. At the same time, several D.C. police officers walked in the front door, saw what was happening and helped take her into custody. No one was hurt.

Nixon was charged with assaulting a police officer while armed, authorities said. She was ordered held without bond by a judge yesterday in D.C. Superior Court.

The charging papers quoted Nixon as telling police that her plan was to "rob a police officer of his weapon." Police found 36 rounds of ammunition, two bags of marijuana and two cigarettes filled with marijuana in a bag belonging to her, the charging documents said.

The police headquarters was equipped with metal detectors after a gunman got into the building in November 1994 and fatally shot three law enforcement officers and wounded another. The gunman, Bennie Lee Lawson Jr., had been questioned a week earlier about a triple slaying in the city. After shooting the officers, Lawson killed himself.

The building has since been renamed in honor of one of the victims that day, D.C. Police Sgt. Henry J. "Hank" Daly.