Rookie US policewoman killed on first day on job
A Virginia police officer was fatally shot during her first day on the job and two of her fellow officers were wounded when they responded to a domestic disturbance in a Washington, DC, suburb, authorities said yesterday. Ashley Guindon, a rookie officer on the Prince William County Police, was struck by gunfire later died of injuries sustained during the incident on Saturday evening, a day after she joined the force, the department said.
Guindon was a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she earned a degree in aeronautics. She also served in the US Marine Corps Reserve and has family members in law enforcement, according to the county. According to media reports, she was a 2005 graduate of Merrimack High School in New Hampshire. Yesterday, the department posted a photograph of a black ribbon draped over a squad car in honor of Guindon. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” the post said.
Local media showed a procession of squad cars and officers standing at attention outside of Inova Fairfax Hospital where Guindon and two other officers where brought after they were shot. On Friday, the department sent a message on Twitter that included a photo of Guindon and a fellow officer after they were sworn in, saying that she would be working her first shifts over the weekend, adding “Be safe!”
Guindon and two other unidentified officers were shot at a home they were called to in Lake Ridge, about 24 km southwest of Washington, DC, the county police department said on its Twitter and Facebook pages. The department gave no details on the nature of the incident or the condition of the two other injured officers. A suspect was in custody, the department said.