Armed Suspect Arrested at Northern Virginia Church
Police said the suspect, Rui Jiang, had made online threats before showing up at the church on Sunday.
A national tragedy might have been prevented on Sunday at a church in Northern Virginia.
Police in Haymarket, which is about 45 miles west of Washington, D.C., said that 35-year-old Rui Jiang had been making online threats directed at the non-denomenational Park Valley Church before an off-duty Prince William County police officer spotted the suspect’s vehicle in the church’s parking lot during Sunday worship services.
WUSA-TV reports that Jiang, who lives in the nearby D.C. suburb of Falls Church, was then detained near the church’s entrance and arrested with “a loaded handgun and an additional magazine, folding knife, and a folding ‘credit card style knife'” in his possession.
A Falls Church man who police say made threats against a church was arrested inside of that church with a loaded gun, the Prince William County Police Department said Monday. https://t.co/HP92ZUoHx6
— WUSA9 (@wusa9) September 25, 2023
Perhaps most disturbingly, WUSA reports that “Jiang apparently entered the church through a separate door and had been inside the location prior to being stopped” during the church service.
The off-duty police officer and everyone else who helped apprehend this suspect before he could harm churchgoers are heroes. I am especially grateful to these selfless citizens since my sister is a member of this church’s congregation. She was not inside the church on Sunday, but I thank God for watching over her and everyone who worships at the Park Valley Church.
Tom Sileo is a contributing senior editor of The Stream. He is the author of the forthcoming I Have Your Back, the recently released Be Bold and co-author of Three Wise Men, Brothers Forever, 8 Seconds of Courage and Fire in My Eyes. Follow Tom on X @TSileo and The Stream at @Streamdotorg.
