Rep. Gerry Connolly's staffers hospitalized after baseball bat attack

Fairfax, Virginia - An individual armed with a baseball bat entered the office of Democratic Representative Gerald "Gerry" Connolly on Monday morning, asked for the congressman, and then injured two staffers.

Staffers at Rep. Gerald Connolly's Fairfax office were attacked by an individual armed with a baseball bat on Monday.
Staffers at Rep. Gerald Connolly's Fairfax office were attacked by an individual armed with a baseball bat on Monday.  © Anna Moneymaker / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Both staffers were transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a tweet from Connolly, who has represented Virginia's 11th District since 2009.

“I have the best team in Congress. My district office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day,” Connolly tweeted Monday afternoon.

“The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating.”

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Connolly said the attacker was in police custody and thanked the city of Fairfax Police Department and emergency medical personnel for their response. Fairfax Police could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Right now, our focus is on ensuring they [the staffers] are receiving the care they need,” Connolly tweeted.

Before running for office Connolly worked for roughly a decade as a staffer for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the late 1970s and 1980s. He served on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for more than a decade before coming to Congress.

US Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger has repeatedly voiced concerns in congressional hearings about increasing threats to lawmakers. Those concerns are often raised in connection with pleas for budgetary increases, as threats against members are up approximately 400% over the last six years, Manger has said.

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In the last several months alone, Representative Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, was attacked in her Washington apartment building and a staffer for Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, suffered life-threatening injuries after being stabbed.

Manger’s latest budget request, about a 14% increase over fiscal 2023 enacted levels, would include additional money to protect members and their staff in DC, as well as in their home districts.

"The safety of our members and of our staff remains of paramount importance, particularly given the increased instances of political violence in our country," House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, said in a statement following the attack.

Jeffries said he reached out to Connolly and asked the House sergeant at arms and US Capitol Police to "continue their focus on collaborating with our members."

Cover photo: Anna Moneymaker / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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