Fairfax County Police Officer Kills Woman After She Slashes Him with a Knife

Officer Peter Liu arrived at the apartment of Sydney Wilson, 33, in September for a wellness check when she opened her door, slashed him with a knife, and chased him down a dead-end hallway where he shot her.

The Details: Body cam footage released from the event shows Wilson closing the door on Liu and Liu trying to get Wilson to open the door for several minutes. When she opens the door again, she asks, "How are you?" before swinging the kitchen knife toward the officer. “Oh, Jesus Christ!” he says before pulling out his firearm and yelling at her "back up" several times. Wilson then slashed him in the face again, prompting him to open fire. Liu, a 14-year department veteran with adult mental health first aid and crisis intervention training, was placed on administrative duty amid the investigation into the fatal shooting.

How the Media Covered It: The story was covered much more by the right than the left. At the time of reporting, the only source AllSides found on the left that covered the story was the Washington Post (Lean Left bias). Many outlets on the right emphasized the threat to the officer by highlighting stills from the body camera footage and noting Wilson's 6'5", 330-pound stature. In contrast, the Washington Post did not include images from the graphic footage, and Newsweek (Center) included a still of Wilson from the footage next to an earlier selfie of her.