Gunman Shoots Self After Police Standoff; Son, Woman Unhurt

A man who held Fairfax County police at bay for nearly 24 hours shot himself yesterday evening, and his 8-year-old son and a woman who were in the house with him were unharmed.

Two law enforcement sources said the gunman shot himself about 6:30 p.m. as police tried to enter the house with a remote-controlled robot after communication with him had broken off.

Police declined to identify the man, who was in critical condition last night at Inova Fairfax Hospital. The siege began after he shot a woman Tuesday evening in the Pimmit Hills area of Falls Church and then walked into a nearby house. The woman, 36, was hospitalized in grave condition Tuesday night; police declined to discuss her condition yesterday. They said she was the mother of the gunman's 8-year-old son.

Police did not identify the woman inside the house and declined to describe her relationship with the gunman.

Police said the gunman and the woman he shot had been arguing over their son when the shooting occurred.

The standoff unfolded near Fisher Drive and Lisle Avenue, just east of Tysons Corner. Tactical teams, motorcycle officers, a command bus, detectives and negotiators descended on the neighborhood, staked out positions and then sat and waited.

Police initially had trouble reaching the people inside the house in the 7600 block of Lisle Avenue. By yesterday morning, they had contacted the man and the woman inside by phone, police sources indicated, but by mid-afternoon the conversations ended.

Sheena Kelly, who lives two doors from the besieged house, said she was taking groceries into her house about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when she heard "a pop. If I'd looked around, I probably would have seen him."

Instead, she went inside, and police called 30 minutes later advising her to stay there. Kelly said she had family visiting from out of town and stayed home from work with them yesterday.

Whenever someone's head popped out for a look, SWAT officers barked for onlookers to get back inside. "We're the hostages here," Kelly said.

As the standoff dragged on through the clear, blazing afternoon, Deputy Chief Suzanne Devlin emerged from the police command bus. "I know it's frustrating [to the neighbors]. It's like we're taking over their community," Devlin said.

Devlin said negotiating with someone in a standoff situation "takes hours and hours for a negotiator to develop a relationship. Thirty years ago, the police were storm troopers and we would have kicked the door down. We don't do that anymore. And now people get frustrated when we don't go in. We're trying to strike a balance."