Richmond Highway barricaded for hours as police negotiate with armed woman

Richmond Highway (Route 1) has been closed off to traffic in the Hybla Valley area for over eight hours now due to a woman who has barricaded herself in a vehicle with a handgun, police say.

Crisis negotiators and officers in the Fairfax County Police Department’s Special Operations Division are still working to resolve the situation in the 7400 block of Richmond Highway peacefully, the department said in a 7:33 p.m. update.

“A woman remains in a vehicle armed with a handgun,” the FCPD tweeted. “We continue to ask our community to avoid the area. Richmond Hwy remains closed between Lockheed Blvd and Boswell Ave.”

The woman is by herself, police confirmed. NBC4 reporter Brad Freitas said at 4:36 p.m. that a tactical robot was spotted passing the woman something in a plastic bag through the passenger side window.

We are still on scene of the barricade in the 7400 blk of Richmond Hwy. A woman remains in a vehicle armed with a handgun. We continue to ask our community to avoid the area. Richmond Hwy remains closed between Lockheed Blvd and Boswell Ave.

— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) March 28, 2023

Woman still barricaded in a vehicle in Fairfax County has a firearm. A tactical robot passed her something in a plastic bag through passenger window. Richmond Highway remains closed between Boswell Ave and Lockheed Blvd #BreakingNews in #HyblaValley #vatraffic @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/GDZCyd9dSH

— ʙʀᴀᴅ ꜰʀᴇɪᴛᴀꜱ (@Chopper4Brad) March 28, 2023

Police reported at 12:14 p.m. that a barricade had been established in the area “for a woman experiencing a mental health crisis.”

According to WUSA9, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office asked Fairfax County police to check for a critical missing person in the 7200 block of Fordson Road around 11 a.m.

Upon arriving, the officers encountered a woman who said she’d been abducted, per WUSA9.

While gathering more information from the woman, officers saw the abduction suspect leave the area in a 2014 black Jeep Cherokee. The suspect was also identified as a critical missing person.

After a short pursuit, police say the Jeep came to a stop in the 7400 block of Richmond Highway.

The driver refused to follow officer’s commands and barricaded herself inside the vehicle with a gun.

As of 7:30 p.m., Richmond Highway remained closed in both directions, resulting in approximately 1-mile-long traffic backups, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s traffic camera network.

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