Fairfax County police are searching for the driver behind a hit-and-run crash that killed a pedestrian in Springfield last night (Sunday).
Officers were dispatched at 10:22 p.m. for the crash, which occurred at the intersection of Old Keene Mill Road and Backlick Road, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
“The adult male pedestrian was transported to a local hospital and pronounced deceased,” the FCPD said in a social media post. “The driver of the vehicle fled the scene.”
The vehicle involved in the crash was described by witnesses as a white SUV, police said, asking anyone with information to call 911.
The eastbound lanes of Old Keene Mill Road were temporarily closed at Backlick to allow Crash Reconstruction Unit detectives to investigate.
The pedestrian has been identified as 44-year-old Thomas Gum, who is described as having “no fixed address,” a phrase often used by the FCPD for individuals experiencing homelessness.
“[Gunn] was walking from north to south across Old Keene Mill Road toward Backlick Road, mid-block and not in a crosswalk, when a white SUV traveling eastbound on Old Keene Mill Road in the right travel lane struck him,” the FCPD said in an update released Monday afternoon (Oct. 5).
Detectives are still looking to identify the driver and to determine whether speed or alcohol played a role in the crash.
The vehicle is described as a white SUV. Crash Reconstruction detectives are en route to investigate. Eastbound lanes of Old Keene Mill Rd at Backlick Rd are closed. Please seek an alternate route. Call 911 with info. (2/2)
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) October 5, 2026
The man appears to be the 17th pedestrian killed in a crash in Fairfax County this year. According to preliminary state data, there were 14 such fatalities through September, but the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles’ database hasn’t been updated yet to include a crash that killed a woman in a wheelchair on Route 50 in Greenbriar on Sept. 18 or a Sept. 29 crash where a woman died after being struck by multiple vehicles on Route 28 in Chantilly.
This is the second fatal crash to occur on Old Keene Mill Road so far in 2026, following a single-vehicle crash near Tiverton Drive in Springfield on June 9 that killed a driver and sent two passengers to the hospital. The road has now been the site of seven fatal crashes since 2024, including four where the victim was a pedestrian.
Screenshot via Google Maps
