Who is Sydney Wilson? Women shot dead after injuring police officer

A woman who was fatally shot by a Virginia police officer after apparently cutting her face with a knife during a welfare check posted on social media that she was certified to provide emergency first aid. mental health for adults.

Sydney Wilson, 33, was pronounced dead at a hospital on September 16.

The Fairfax County Police Department said an officer went to the 11800 block of Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston around 10:20 a.m. after a mental health counselor asked police to conduct a social control over Wilson, who they said was in an “agitated” state. State.”

Body camera footage released Monday shows the officer, whom the department identified as Peter Liu, a 14-year veteran, arriving at Wilson’s apartment door and knocking. Wilson opened the door, dressed in a bathrobe, and said “hello” twice before closing the door.

The video shows Liu continued to knock and ask Wilson to open the door. When Wilson opened the door again about three minutes later, she said “how are you,” then raised a knife and lunged at Liu.

“Oh Jesus Christ,” Liu said, then backed into the hallway as Wilson followed him, still brandishing the knife. The officer then pointed his gun at Wilson and asked him to “back up” several times, according to the footage.

When Wilson rushed toward him again, Wilson fired two shots. He fired three more times while Wilson still appeared to be moving toward him, she then fell to the ground. The footage shows blood flowing from Liu’s head onto his hand and onto the ground when he called for the shooting and asked for medical assistance.

Wilson was born in Pennsylvania, but lived in Reston, according to her obituary. She graduated from St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C. before earning a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

She worked as a leasing operations manager for JLL Mid-Atlantic in Washington, D.C., according to her LinkedIn page.

“Sydney loved children and was an inspirational speaker to young girls coached by her former teammates who aspired to play high school and college basketball,” her obituary said. “Sydney’s legacy of friendship, empathy and love will live on in the hearts of all who met her.”

On her LinkedIn and Facebook pages, she announced that she had received certification in mental health training earlier this year.

“I’m proud of this! I earned certification in Adult Mental Health First Aid after 8 hours of necessary training,” she wrote on Facebook.

“As a human resources manager, mentor, friend, big cousin, daughter… the list goes on, it’s important to be able to help and identify challenges in myself and others. I think it’s the greatest act of love.”

Wilson’s funeral was held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on October 5. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations in his honor be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

At a news conference Monday, Fairfax Police Chief Kevin Davis said Fairfax County operates a program in which mental health counselors join officers on calls involving people with mental illness to help avoid violence. He said a counselor did not join Liu during the welfare check on Wilson because they were “on their way to another call for service” and that Liu had received welfare intervention training. crisis.

“I think a co-responder would have found themselves in a very dangerous position when this woman came to the door the second time,” he said. “I believe this service call was correctly sent.”

Davis supported the officer’s actions. “He did the things that we trained him to do and that we expect him to do,” he said.

He said Liu was placed on “restricted duty” and was working elsewhere in the police department while investigations into the shooting were ongoing.