Police: Unknown Number of Officers Shot, Killed Alexandria Man
Alexandria police fatally shot Taft Sellers, 30, after responding to a domestic disturbance Feb. 18.
Alexandria’s police chief says he doesn’t yet know how many officers fired their weapons or how many shots were fired in the Feb. 18 police shooting of a man on Duke Street.
Police shot and killed Taft Sellers, 30, of Alexandria after responding to a domestic disturbance. Witnesses told Patch they heard multiple shots fired.
On Monday, Police Chief Earl Cook told reporters that officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave, per departmental policy. Police know how many officers responded to the scene, but Cook said he doesn’t know how many discharged their weapons, pending the outcome of ballistics tests and the ongoing investigation.
Cook told reporters he has faith in his officers.
“My presumption is, my officers will always act, hopefully, with good judgment and based on training,” he said. “So, our officers are trained to respond to a threat, and I make an assumption that they had a treat and they responded to a threat, and other than that I await the investigation.”
Cook said he did not yet know if anyone other than officers fired a weapon. The person who made the 911 call that alerted police to the domestic incident did report a man at the scene had a weapon, he said.
The domestic incident involved a family disagreement, Cook said. Who made the call remains under investigation.
Cook said the department has launched both a criminal investigation, to help determine whether any charges will be brought in the case, and an administrative investigation to determine whether officers acted in line with departmental policy. The results of the criminal investigation will be sent to Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Sengel.
The department has also contacted the Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigations and meets quarterly with the Alexandria Human Rights Commission, Cook said. He said Alexandria last officer-involved shooting occurred four years ago, when an officer shot and injured a man.
Cook said he has been in constant contact with Sellers’ family since the shooting to offer them his support. Anyone who witnessed or has information regarding the incident is asked to call the Alexandria Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Section at 703-746-6711.
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T Ailshire
4:49 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
He doesn't KNOW? Or won't say?
Dave
3:19 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The answer is clearly stated in the very first sentence of the story. Read it again.
Henry
4:52 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
"Alexandria’s police chief says he doesn’t yet know how many officers fired their weapons"
Excellent work there chief! I guess it's asking too much for a simple count of ammunition.
Margaret Williams
5:38 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
I witnessed part of this unfold from my car on Duke Street. I called to share what I heard & saw but no one has returned my call.
Dan
7:45 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
It's an open, current investigation involving a death. I can respect that no information would be released at this point. What entitlement some citizens believe they have to demand to know the evidence in a current case.
T Ailshire
8:09 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
I'm not demanding anything. I requested a clarification of whether the chief in fact does NOT KNOW how many rounds his officers fired a week after an event.
Henry
8:51 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Dan is missing the point. Maybe hes with APD?
Justaskin
9:42 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
My guess (and it is just a guess) is that there are several sticky points here involving the number of officers who fired their weapons and the total number of shots fired. It seems to me very unlikely that police commanders did not know within minutes of the incident which officers actually fired their weapons and, shortly thereafter, how many shots were fired. Television news video of the scene showed numerous casings with evidence markers on the ground near the police cars.
Justaskin
10:18 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
By the way, regardless of what details the investigation of this incident might reveal, Mr. Sellers made the final decision as to what the outcome would be.
T Ailshire
7:29 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Glad you have it all worked out. Maybe you should just write the report, and save the police the trouble.
You may very well be right, but until an investigation is complete, you don't know any such thing.
Female adult
5:11 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Mr. Sellers was a military personnel I'm sure he knows how to stand down in this type of situation. I wonder what really happened so sad!
KC Jones
7:08 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Taft was a GOOD MAN and a good friend!!! Not sure why they had to kill him! Shoot to kill, was it really necessary?
oj
7:06 pm on Thursday, February 28, 2013
Why did the officer not give the mother a chance to speak to Taft. She beg them not to kill her baby and they only asked for his name? He had no intention to harm anyone. Did he really first? Will every really know?
TilyaB
6:50 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
Sum police justice take that uniform straight to the damn head this is a innocent man who served a country some years for there well being they open fired cause they assume he was armed and dangerous now they've took an innocent life shame on Alexandria police department R.I.p Taft
megster
11:30 am on Friday, March 29, 2013
“My presumption is, my officers will always act, hopefully, with good judgment and based on training...” It should be his hope, anyway. I've observed officers in the APD acting with very, very poor judgement. Overreach, intimidation, and lying under oath. They need citizen oversight.