by Maria Glod, Washington Post
A 21-year-old man has been charged with robbing an off-duty Fairfax County police officer who was shot in the arm Thursday morning as he was getting money from an automated teller machine at an Alexandria bank, police said yesterday.
Police also said they tracked the suspect quickly because a second Fairfax officer stabbed the robber in the back with a knife as he struggled with her colleague. Police alerted hospitals, and when DeCarlos Antonio Cunningham arrived at Prince George’s Hospital Center for treatment of a stab wound in the back, medical staff called police, authorities said.
“Both officers should be commended for their quick actions during a very dangerous situation,” Alexandria Police Chief Charles E. Samarra said. “Their training and instincts not only prevented further injury to the officer, but detectives were able to quickly find the suspect because the injuries he received required him to seek immediate medical treatment.”
The two officers, a 27-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, were headed home early Thursday from a Fraternal Order of Police function in the District, part of National Police Week. They stopped at the First Union Bank branch near Mount Vernon Avenue and West Glebe Road about 2:30 a.m., Alexandria police said. Neither officer had a gun or was in uniform.
The male officer was at the outdoor ATM when a man with a gun approached and demanded money, Alexandria police spokeswoman Amy Bertsch said. The two men fought, and the gun fired.
Bertsch said the female officer, who was waiting in the car, saw the assault and called 911. She was getting out of the car to help when she heard the shot.
She stabbed the robber as the men struggled, Bertsch said. The robber fled in a gray minivan.
Cunningham, who has no fixed address, was treated at the hospital and released to the custody of Prince George’s County police on a fugitive warrant, Bertsch said. Alexandria police have charged him with robbery but did not say what was taken.
Fairfax police Lt. Amy Lubas said the female officer has been placed on routine administrative leave with pay while an internal investigation is conducted.
Lubas said the male officer is on injury leave. He was treated at Inova Fairfax Hospital and released.