What is justifiable homicide?
Justifiable homicide is defined on page 14 of the Incident Based Reporting Manual as the killing of a perpetrator of a serious criminal offense by a peace officer in the line of duty, or the killing, during the commission of a serious criminal offense, of the perpetrator by a private individual.
Who investigates homicide cases?
For an officer-involved shooting where deadly force has been utilized or for a private individual who utilizes deadly force, the criminal investigation is conducted by detectives from the Criminal Investigation Bureau. The criminal investigation is forwarded to the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County for a determination of criminal liability.
For further information on officer-involved shootings, please refer to Officer-Involved Shooting Summary