Man Fatally Shot by State Trooper After Allegedly Stabbing Woman and Dog in D.C. Road Rage Incident

A man stabbed four people, one of them fatally, before being shot by a Virginia trooper on a busy interstate near Washington, D.C., according to Virginia state police. The incident was reported on March 1, and authorities said it appeared to be a road rage incident following a car crash.

The incident began with a crash along the Outer Loop of the Beltway near Exit 52,near Gallows Road and Little River Turnpike Route(236). The location is close to Inova Faifex Medical Campus. According to police reports, a man got out of a car and began stabbing people following the crash. The driver who first witnessed the crash called 911, police said.

According to the Virginia State Police, a trooper was called to the scene in Fairfax County on March 1 at about 1 p.m. for a reported road rage incident. “When the trooper arrived at the scene, he was confronted by a male suspect carrying a knife," according to a police statement.

“The trooper then shot the suspect in self defense,” police said. The suspect was immediately transferred to a hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries, police added.

One of the victims who died after being stabbed was a 39-year-old woman. According to police, a dog was also stabbed. The conditions of other victims were not immediately known because the investigation is still ongoing.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the stabbing occurred following a car crash on Interstate-495 Southbound, according to the police. The crash is also under investigation, police said. Following the incident, several lanes of the interstate were closed as authorities conducted a preliminary investigation. Therefore, traffic slowed nearly to a standstill.

According to CNN, an eye witness said he was driving with his wife when traffic slowed significantly and he saw two cars “kind of banged up.” He then spotted two people covered in blood and one person with a knife. A woman appeared to be trying to stop the attacker, but the man kept swinging his knife.

“I just kept driving with the traffic, it was really scary,” the eye witness said in an interview with CNN. A second witness described seeing a woman covered in blood trying to defend herself from a man. Another witness, who was on his way home from a weekend with his family, told CNN he saw a scuffle he now believes was a stabbing. He then saw a state trooper pull up and fire two to three shots at the accused.

As two separate investigations are ongoing in the case, one for stabbing and another into the crash, more details are yet to be revealed, police said.