Video released on police-involved shooting

The Fairfax County Police Department has released the body-worn camera footage from the police-involved shooting at an apartment in Fairfax on Feb. 23.

When police entered the apartment in the 3900 block of Persimmon Drive shortly after 5 a.m., Chhatra Thapa, 54, had already stabbed his wife, Binda, and daughter, Mamta, and was in the process of stabbing Mamta’s husband, Santosh Basnet.

In the body-worn camera video, Police Officer First Class Nicholas Brazones yells at Thapa to drop the knife. Thapa continued to stab Basnet, and you can hear Brazones firing five shots at Thapa, who died on the scene. You can also hear a woman screaming for help and a baby crying.

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PFC Brazones, a 2.5-year veteran of the FCPD, is assigned to the Mason Police District. He is on restricted-duty status while the investigations continue.

Mamta and Binda were transported to a local hospital, where they were pronounced deceased. Basnet was severely injured and is still undergoing treatment. The baby, a one-year-old boy, was unharmed and is staying with relatives until Basnet can take care of him.

“This scene was a bloodbath,” said Police Chief Kevin Davis at a March 19 press briefing.

“By the time the officer entered, two lives had already been taken,” Davis said. “If not for the disciplined heroic actions of that police officer, we would have had two more victims.”

When officers entered the apartment at Margate Manor, “Thapa had already stabbed his son-in-law several times and was going to keep stabbing him to death if not for the actions of our young police officer who was several feet away,” Davis said. Thapa’s wife was lying on the floor between them, and so was the baby.

Davis credits Brazones’ quick, decisive actions in a chaotic situation to the quality of training provided to police officers. “His actions were in compliance with the law and our policy.”

The knife weilded by Thapa, known as a dau in Nepal, is a cleaver with a 12-inch blade used for chopping bones, he said.

“It’s sad and tragic that the patriarch of a family would take the life of his wife and his daughter. We’re still trying to wrap our minds around that,” Davis said.

The police do not have a motive for the stabbing. Thapa did not have a criminal history, and there had been no calls for service from that apartment. Basnet told police there was no confrontation the night before the stabbing or that morning.

Davis said, “The only thing we do know is that he has a history of some challenges from mental illness.”