On July 28, a 911 call at approximately 10 a.m. reported a husband threatening his wife and stabbing himself with a knife in Fairfax County. Police responded and encountered the suspect — later identified as Nehemia Fuentes Banegas, 26, of Annandale — running from the residence as his wife pointed him out, Chief Kevin Davis said during a filmed press conference posted on Facebook.com/fairfaxcountyPD.

Davis described the encounter in a wooded area involving a K-9 officer, a patrol officer, and a second lieutenant. The suspect emerged from under a bush and grabbed an officer’s sidearm. Davis noted that the top of the suspect’s hand was around the top barrel of the firearm, and “the bottom of his hand was wrapped around the frame of that firearm.”

As an officer fired three rounds, another officer simultaneously discharged a Taser. One round grazed the suspect’s upper right shoulder. Officers immediately rendered medical aid until personnel from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department arrived. Fuentes Banegas was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to Davis, police later recovered two discarded knives in the area after reviewing nearby camera footage. “He cut himself several times in his leg thigh area, and we believe he threatened his wife with those knives as well,” Davis said.

Davis noted that the officers involved in the incident had a plan for using lethal and less-lethal force, with one officer designated to carry a deadly-force option and another armed with a less-lethal option. He added that this was not a spontaneous foot pursuit but a “slow, methodical” search through the wooded area.

Davis emphasized the importance of body camera footage in providing transparency: “It informs not only law enforcement leadership about what happened, but it puts me in a position to share that information and those facts with the community.” He added: “There should be no such thing as a police officer in America without body cameras. No such thing.”

Davis said during the briefing that the suspect will face charges for felony assault against a police officer and attempting to disarm him, while the department looks into any crimes committed at the home.

Since the incident, FCPD reports that Fuentes Banegas has been formally charged with Attempted Disarming of a Law Enforcement Officer, a Class 6 felony. After being medically cleared, Fuentes Banegas was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, where he is being held without bond.

As is standard when an officer discharges a firearm, the department is conducting parallel criminal and administrative investigations into the shooting.