In a tragic turn of events at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia, a 64-year-old male patient, Thomas Wimmer of Ashburn, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on January 22, 2019. Wimmer was a patient at the hospital's Heart and Vascular Institute at the time of the incident.
Reports from that evening indicate that hospital staff alerted authorities around 8:45 p.m. that a patient was armed with a pistol.
When Fairfax County police arrived, they found that Wimmer had barricaded himself alone in his fourth-floor room and had already sustained at least one gunshot wound to his upper body.
For approximately an hour, a tense standoff ensued as Wimmer, who was initially responsive, refused to surrender his weapon. Officers worked to de-escalate the situation and were eventually able to enter the room safely to provide medical assistance. Wimmer was then transported to the hospital's trauma center, where he succumbed to his injuries shortly before 11 p.m.
An investigation was conducted by the Fairfax County police to understand how the firearm was brought into the hospital, but no further details on the motive have been released. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later confirmed the cause of death as a suicide. No other individuals were harmed during the incident, and consequently, no arrests were made.
