Editor’s note: The body camera footage referenced in this article includes graphic violence.
A man was kneeling over his bloodied son-in-law, with a 12-inch blade in hand, as Fairfax County police officers opened the front door of an apartment on Feb. 23, footage from body cameras shows.
Police can be heard repeatedly telling Chhatra Thapa to “drop the knife,” but the 54-year-old raised the blade and the sound of gunfire began to ring out.
Thapa was shot multiple times and died at the scene.
Fairfax County police released body camera footage Thursday that shows officers’ response to the apartment where Thapa stabbed his wife, Binda, 52, and daughter, Mamta, 33, to death, and seriously wounded his son-in-law.
Mamta and her husband’s 1-year-old son was not injured.
Chief Kevin Davis called the incident a “bloodbath” and said Thapa used a Nepali chopping knife called a dau to stab his family. The blade is designed for butchering meat and chopping bone.
He believes the officer who shot Thapa saved lives.
“I’m convinced, the more I know about what happened on Feb. 23, and certainly the more I watch that video, that if not for the actions of our police officer — heroic, decisive, disciplined actions — that we would have had two more victims on our hands,” Davis said Thursday.
‘Bloodbath’ on a snowy morning
Police responded around 5 a.m. to a reported assault at an apartment in the 3900 block of Persimmon Drive in Mantua. Neighbors called 911 reporting screams and a woman banging on their door.
On the snowy morning, officers walking toward the apartment spoke with a woman — later identified as Thapa’s daughter Mamta — as she screamed for help just outside the home.
Immediately upon opening the door, officers could see Thapa holding a knife above his son-in-law.
Much of the footage is blurred, including the space between officers and Thapa. Davis said the blur conceals a 1-year-old baby and Binda, who was lying on the ground after being stabbed.
After officers shoot Thapa, he dropped the knife. Police started giving medical aid to the victims and called for first responders with Fairfax County Fire and EMS to jump in.
“Get his arms, get his legs, let’s get him out. There’s another victim on the mattress,” an officer can be heard saying, as he told other first responders which of the men was the suspect.
Both women were brought to the hospital and pronounced dead.
Nearly a month after the attack, the son-in-law remains hospitalized, Davis said Thursday.
The couple’s baby was taken to safety by officers and is currently living with family of the son-in-law.
What the video leaves unanswered
It remains unclear what led up to the stabbings.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said there were no prior calls to the apartment and Thapa has no criminal history.
The son-in-law was outside clearing snow when he heard a disturbance from the apartment.
When the man went back inside, he saw his wife had already been stabbed and Thapa was stabbing his mother-in-law.
Davis said the son-in-law told police there was no argument that morning or the night before.
“The only thing we do know with certainty is that he’s had some challenges with mental health, but so do a lot of people, and it doesn’t result in a slaughter like that,” Davis said.
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