Staffers attacked inside Virginia congressman's office


Two staffers were attacked on Monday morning inside the Fairfax, Virginia, office of Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.).
Police said the suspect, Xuan Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax, is facing charges of one count of felony aggravated malicious wounding and one count of malicious wounding. No motive has been revealed, and the suspect is being held without bond.
The incident began at 10:30 a.m., when the suspect entered the office with a metal baseball bat and hit two people in the upper body, police said. In an interview with The Washington Post, Connolly said the suspect became angry when he learned the congressman wasn't there, and "went on a rampage," smashing several windows and a computer.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Connolly's outreach director and an intern were harmed in the attack, with both treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect's father said his son struggled with mental illness and he was trying to get him mental health care, the Post reported. The New York Times found that in 2022, Pham filed a federal lawsuit against the CIA and claimed he was imprisoned for decades by the agency and being "brutally tortured" with a "degenerative disability" from the "fourth dimension."
In the last several years, there has been a rise in the number of threats made against members of Congress. The Capitol Police said in 2017, there were fewer than 4,000 threats, and in 2022, more than 7,500 threats were reported. Of those 7,500 cases, the Capitol Police's Threat Assessment Section decided 313 were serious threats, and prosecutors filed charges in just 22 instances, the Post reported.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants