Two men were injured Wednesday night, March 23, when the gun a third man was showing them went off unintentionally inside a residence on the 7500 block of Tralee Woods Court in Springfield.
Police said the bullet hit the first man in the hand and the second man in the leg. Both men were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital for treatment.
According to a release from Fairfax County Police, officers with the Special Operations Division/SWAT had responded to that same residence in order to serve an arrest warrant for Rashad James, for reckless discharge of a firearm on Saturday, March 19.
West Springfield District Station patrol officers were also patrolling Tralee Woods Court on the lookout for James. Those officers heard a gunshot inside the target residence before SWAT arrived.
After the shot, three individuals ran out of the home and got into two different cars.
Officers on the adjoining road Creedmore Drive blocked a different car, believing its driver was involved at Tralee Woods Court. They engaged the driver, who refused to show his hands and exit the vehicle. Police continued to negotiate with him for more than an hour.
After he continued to refuse to raise hands and step out of the car, they used pepper spray. When that appeared ineffective, officers approached the first car with ballistic shields and opened the car door. The driver came out, but was ultimately released after police determined he wasn’t involved at the Tralee Woods Court incident.
Other officers were able to stop the two suspect vehicles, one of which crashed into a police cruiser. The driver was detained.
The two injured men were in the second car. All three had left the home in order to go to the hospital together.
After searching the residence, police weren’t able to locate James. They don’t believe he had a role in the accidental shooting incident.