Fairfax Police Shoot Man They Say Had Gun

Person Allegedly Disorderly Near Galleria Eatery May Have Been Ex-Employee

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By Jerry Markon and Christopher Twarowski

Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, November 16, 2008; Page C06

Fairfax County police shot and wounded an armed man outside Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant at Tysons Galleria yesterday, police and witnesses said, but many details remained unclear last night.

At 12:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of a disorderly man on an upper-level parking deck and confronted him, said Officer Shelley Broderick, a police spokeswoman. The man failed to follow the officers' commands and made a movement toward a gun in his waistband, she said.

An officer fired once, striking the man in the lower body, she said. The man, whom police declined to identify, was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, they said.

Employees in the mall, including a manager at a business adjacent to the restaurant, said the gunman was a disgruntled former employee of Maggiano's. The parking garage where the shooting took place is close to the restaurant.

Broderick declined to say whether the incident had any connection to the restaurant, but a police official said initial police radio communications indicated that the man was a former Maggiano's employee. Police emphasized that the investigation is in its early stages, as is an internal probe because the incident involved an officer firing a weapon. Officers were seeking to talk to the gunman at the hospital.

Julie Czizek, human resources manager at Maggiano's, declined to comment and referred reporters to a toll-free public-affairs telephone number.

A recorded message said no one was available to comment.

Shoppers at the mall expressed shock at the incident and attributed it to tension caused by the declining economy.

"It's exactly like the movies. It's extremely sad," said Eskil Amdal, a Lexington Park man who had dinner at Maggiano's yesterday with his wife and child.

Amdal, 35, said he saw 10 police cars when he arrived at the mall and asked waiters what was happening.

They referred him to police.