UPDATED: Police use pepper spray to end hours-long barricade in Lake Barcroft

(Updated at 4 p.m.) A man was taken into custody around midnight after a roughly seven-hour-long police barricade at a Lake Barcroft condominium building.

The Fairfax County Police Department tweeted at 5:17 p.m. yesterday (Tuesday) that its officers were on the scene in the 3300 block of Rio Drive in response to a brandishing incident, where a man with a rifle was seen on a fifth-level apartment balcony “shouting threats.”

“The man was shouting threats to shoot and kill people walking outside the apartment balcony,” the FCPD said in a summary today (Wednesday). “Officers began clearing the surrounding area and attempted to negotiate with the man to exit the apartment. The man disregarded officers’ commands and remained inside the apartment by himself.”

Residents of the Barcroft Hills (3245 Rio Drive) and Lafayette Park condos (6147 Leesburg Pike) were directed to shelter in place, while police negotiated with the man, who had moved inside the apartment. Police said they believed he was alone.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of Barcroft Hills were evacuated, Annandale Today reported last night, quoting a resident who said they had been unable to return home for hours due to the lockdown.

According to the FCPD, crisis negotiators and officers from its Special Operations Division spent more then four hours trying to communicate with the man, but the negotiation attempts ultimately failed, leading SOD officers to deploy “projectiles containing pepper spray.”

The FCPD says the man was taken into custody after he exited the apartment at 11:55 p.m., at which point residents were allowed to back into their buildings.

“The man was taken to a nearby hospital for further mental health evaluation,” the department said. “He was also treated for injuries that were not considered life threatening.”

The man remains inside the apartment. Officers continue to negotiate w/the man to peacefully resolve this situation. Please avoid the area. Those within the apartment complex are asked to follow police direction.

— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) August 2, 2022