A woman who was fatally shot by a Virginia police officer after apparently slashing his face with a knife during a welfare check had posted about being certified to provide adult mental heath first aid on social media.
Sydney Wilson, 33, was pronounced dead at a hospital on September 16.
The Fairfax County Police Department said an officer had responded to the 11800 block of Sunrise Valley Drive in Reston at around 10:20 a.m. after a mental health counselor asked police to conduct a welfare check on Wilson, who they reported to be in an “agitated state.”
Body-camera footage released on Monday shows the officer, who the department identified as 14-year veteran Peter Liu, arriving at the door of Wilson’s apartment and knocking. Wilson opened the door, dressed in a robe, and said “hi” twice before closing the door again.
Fairfax County Police Department/Facebook
The video shows Liu continued knocking and asking for 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 down the hallway as Wilson followed, still brandishing the knife. The officer then pointed his gun at Wilson and instructed her to “back up” several times, the footage shows.
When Wilson again lunged toward him, Wilson fired two shots. He fired three more times as Wilson appeared to be still moving toward him, she then fell to the ground. The footage shows blood dripping from Liu’s head onto his hand and the floor when he called in the shooting and requested 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 going on to earn 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 that were coached by her former teammates and aspired to play high school and college basketball,” her obituary says. “Sydney’s legacy of friendship, empathy and love will live on in the hearts of everyone who ever met her.”
On her LinkedIn and Facebook pages, she had posted about receiving a certification in mental health training earlier this year.
“I’m proud of this! I became certified in Adult Mental Health First Aid after 8 hours of necessary training,” she wrote on Facebook.
“As a people 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 this is the greatest act of love.”
Wilson’s funeral was held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 5. In lieu of flowers, family requested donations in her honor to be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
At a news conference on 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 Liu had received crisis intervention training.
“I believe a co-responder would have found herself or himself in a very dangerous position when this woman came to the door the second time,” he said. “I do believe this call for service was appropriately dispatched.”
Davis stood by the officer’s actions. “He did the things that we train him and expect him to do,” he said.
He said Liu has been placed on “restricted duty” and is serving elsewhere in the police department as investigations into the shooting are underway.
