WOODBRIDGE, Va. — An Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon has been arrested in the death of a Virginia police officer and another person.
Authorities in Prince William County say Ronald Hamilton is being held without bond in on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer.
He is accused of fatally shooting Officer Ashley Guindon after she answered a domestic violence call at Hamilton’s home in Woodbridge yesterday. Neighbors say he lived there with his wife and 11-year-old son. Two other officers were wounded.
Police say Hamilton’s wife, 29-year-old Crystal Hamilton, was fatally shot by her husband before officers arrived. Their son was at home at the time of the shootings. He is now being cared for by relatives.
Hamilton is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon, according to Cindy Your, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokeswoman based at Fort Meade, Maryland.
According to our sister station WTKR in Virginia, the Prince William County Police Department said in a tweet, Officer Guindon died due to her injuries during the shooting.
On Friday, the department tweeted out a picture of Officer Guindon, saying she had just been sworn in. She was on first shift Saturday when she was shot.
Prince William County Police Chief Stephan Hudson says Guindon was a 28-year-old former Marine Corps reservist and had a master’s degree in forensic science. She went through training with the department last year before leaving for personal reasons, and rejoined the department this year.
More than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside a Northern Virginia hospital early this morning as a somber escort for the body.
The other officers are hospitalized and expected to survive.
Hamilton is expected to be arraigned Monday.
Virginia law allows for the death penalty for the murder of a police officer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
