Xuan-Kha Tran Pham
There’s little doubt that Chantilly’s Xuan Kha Tran Pham threatened a woman in his neighborhood and then violently attacked staff members in the Fairfax City office of U.S. Rep. Connolly (D-11th). But on Aug. 26 in Fairfax County Circuit Court, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Doctors representing both the prosecution and defense told Judge David Oblon that Pham, now 50, suffers from schizophrenia. As a result, they said, at the time of these offenses, he was unable to separate right from wrong. Pham is now being held at a mental health facility in Virginia where he’s receiving treatment for his illness.
The criminal incidents occurred the morning of May 15, 2023. Fairfax County police said that, around 10:37 a.m., Pham allegedly approached a woman in the driveway of her Greenbriar home, asked her if she was white and chased her with a bat as she screamed and fled from him. He then reportedly smashed her car windshield.
The incident was caught on a neighbor’s security camera, and – still holding his bat – Pham could be heard muttering Connolly’s name as he walked away. After Pham’s arrest later that day, county police charged him with committing a hate crime and felony destruction of property.
First, though, came the assaults at Connolly’s office. Fairfax City Police spokeswoman Lisa Gardner said officers responded at 10:49 a.m. to a call about an active assault at 10680 Main St., Suite 140. When they arrived, she said, the staffers were “scared and hiding” in the office.
“Investigation revealed that the suspect, Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, entered Connolly’s District Office and assaulted two Congressional staffers with a metal baseball bat,” said Gardner. “The staffers received non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to a local hospital. One police officer also sustained a minor injury and is receiving medical treatment.”
At the time of the attack, Connolly was at a ribbon cutting for a food bank in another section of the county. After asking for him by name and learning he wasn’t in the office, said Connolly, the assailant allegedly took out his frustration on the two staffers.
Connolly said his female outreach director was struck on the head with the bat, and a female intern in her first day on the job was hit on her side. They then fled to another office while the man broke glass windows and damaged office furnishings and computers.
Fairfax City police said Pham was taken into custody at the scene within 5 minutes of them receiving the call. The Criminal Investigations Division charged him with two felonies – aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding. Afterward, Pham’s father told the media his son was “schizophrenic and hadn’t taken his medication for three months.”
Following the Aug. 26 court ruling, Connolly issued a statement regarding the matter. “It has been over a year since Mr. Pham entered my office with the intent to harm me and my staff,” wrote Connolly. “As the healing process continues, I remain grateful for the community’s support and inspired by my staff’s incredible courage and recovery. Mr. Pham’s history of mental illness is well documented and lasts today. I pray he continues to receive the institutional treatment he needs so that he does not harm anyone else or himself.”