Nearly 7 months after US Park Police fatally shoot Bijan Ghaisar, investigation returns to scene

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Nearly seven months after the fatal shooting of Bijan Ghaisar, crime scene investigators were back at the scene in Virginia Thursday conducting a reenactment of the case while family members and lawmakers continued their push for answers.

According to a police report, Ghaisar, a 25-year-old accountant from McLean, was shot on November 17, 2017 in Fairfax County by two U.S. Park Police officers. The shooting was preceded by a brief chase police believe began after a fender bender on the George Washington Parkway in Alexandria. Ghaisar died 10 days later.

There are very limited details about what occurred that evening have been released by police. In January 2018, Fairfax County police released dashboard camera video that captured parts of the chase and the shooting.

"Sadly, since this horrific incident on November 17, 2017, six months ago, we still don't know why shots were fired by the U.S. Park Police officers," said Springfield supervisor Pat Herrity in a statement. "Neither the U.S. Park Police nor the FBI have provided any accountability or transparency with respect to the shooting."

Ghaisar's family members released the following statement:

"On a November night last year, two U.S. Park Police officers shot our son and brother as he sat unarmed in his Jeep on the side of the road. They fired nine times, hitting him with four bullets to the head and one to the wrist. Our funny, loving Bijan died 10 days later. In the more than 200 days since then, the lack of any transparency and accountability around his killing or who did it has been devastating for our family - second only to the unimaginable anguish of losing him forever. We hope the events today are an indication of progress in the investigation and a step closer toward justice for a young man whose bright future was needlessly taken."

Herrity, who was not at the scene Thursday, called the slow pace of the investigation "unacceptable."

"I hope and pray that this matter will be resolved soon so that Bijan's family and friends can have some closure and restore some hope in our federal processes that until now have failed us," Herrity said. "I will continue to do everything I can to help the family in this time of despair."

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