Suspect in attack on Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly's office has disturbing history

Fairfax, Virginia - The man armed with a baseball bat who entered the district office of Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly Monday morning and injured two staffers has been named.

Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly's office in Fairfax, Virginia, came under attack from a man wielding a baseball bat.
Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly's office in Fairfax, Virginia, came under attack from a man wielding a baseball bat.  © REUTERS

Both staffers were transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The suspect was named as Xuan Kha Tran Pham, a 49-year-old with schizophrenia who had been dealing with mental health issues since a young age, according to his father.

He was reportedly involved in an earlier incident on Monday, smashing a woman's windshield with his bat and then fleeing the scene.

There is also home security footage of a man with a baseball bat chasing a screaming woman down the street.

"I have no reason to believe that his motivation was politically motivated, but it is possible that the sort of toxic political environment we all live in, you know, set him off, and I would just hope all of us would take a little more time to be careful about what we say and how we say it," Connolly told the Washington Post.

Pham reportedly sued the CIA in 2022, claiming he had been imprisoned and tortured by the agency "from the fourth dimension.”

Cover photo: REUTERS

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