The Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia identified the man shot Tuesday by one of its officers after the man allegedly tried to grab the officer’s gun.
Nehemia Fuentes Banegas, 26, of Annandale, Virginia, is charged with attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer and is being held at the Fairfax County jail on no bond.
According to police, Fuentes Banegas was armed with two knives and had stabbed himself before running away from the home police had been called to Tuesday morning. Officers went to the home in the 7000 block of Sutter Lane after the man’s wife told police he had threatened her and stabbed himself.
Once officers got there, they began searching a wooded area for Fuentes Banegas.
“As officers searched the area, Fuentes Banegas suddenly emerged from heavy brush, violently grabbed an officer’s firearm, and attempted to disarm him. The officer discharged his firearm while a second officer simultaneously deployed his department-issued taser,” the department said in a news release.
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Fuentes Banegas was grazed by one of the shots, according to Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis, and was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said he had never encountered anyone grabbing his gun during his 35 years in law enforcement.
Davis said body-camera video also helped investigators recover two knives that police allege Fuentes Banegas had used to stab himself.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Fuentes Banegas entered the United States through Texas in 2022 without legal authorization and was released into the country. ICE said it has lodged a detainer asking that he not be released from custody.
In a statement, Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called on Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and other state officials to keep Fuentes Banegas in jail. Bis criticized Spanberger’s policies limiting state cooperation with ICE.
The officer who shot Fuentes Banegas is a 12-year veteran of the force assigned to the K9 Unit and has been placed on restricted duty status pending the outcome of criminal and administrative investigations, the department said.
Body-worn camera footage of the shooting will be released within 30 days in accordance with the department’s guidelines. The name of the officer will be released within 10 days.
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