A person entered the Fairfax, Va. office of Democrat Rep. Gerry Connolly with a baseball bat on Monday morning and attacked two staffers after asking for the congressman, Connolly said in a statement.

The suspect is in custody, and the staffers suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were transferred to a local hospital, authorities said.

What You Need To Know

  • A person wielding a metal baseball bat entered Rep. Gerry Connolly's office in Fairfax, Virginia, on Monday, attacking two staffers after asking for the congressman

  • The two staffers sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to a local hospital, police said

  • Authorities later identified the suspect as Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax, Va.; he is being held without bond, and police have not determined a motive

"This morning, an individual entered my District Office armed with a baseball bat and asked for me before committing an act of violence against two members of my staff," Connolly said. "The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff's accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devestating."

Fairfax City Police later identified the suspect as Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax, Va. They have not determined a motive for the attack, police said in a statement. The agency's Criminal Investigations Division obtained warrants for felony Aggravated Malicious Wounding and Malicious Wounding, the statement reads, adding that Pham is being held without bond.

Police also said that an officer suffered a minor injury, for which they are receiving medical treatment. The agency said it is coordinating with the FBI's Washington Field Office and the U.S. Capitol Police.

Fairfax police spokesperson Sgt. Lisa Gardner said police received a call about the attack at Connolly’s district office at about 10:50 a.m. Connolly was not working in that office on Monday, she said.

Officers got to the office within five minutes and located the suspect in the office, Gardner said. He was taken into custody quickly without further incident, she said.

Connolly represents Virginia’s Fairfax County-based 11th District in the Washington suburbs. He’s currently serving his eighth term in Congress. He told CNN that his office sustained damage, including broken windows.

Connolly told CNN that the alleged assailant hit the staffers with a metal bat, hitting a senior aide in the head and an intern on the side. He told the outlet it was the intern's first day on the job.

The Virginia Democrat told CNN that the alleged assailant "was filled with out of control rage," damaging computers and shattering glass in a conference room.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the attack "horrific" and expressed gratitude to law enforcement for their quick action.

"Earlier today, I spoke to Congressman Connolly to offer him and his staff the full support of the House Democratic Caucus family in the aftermath of this horrific attack," Jeffries said in a statement. "We are grateful for the members of law enforcement and medical professionals who swiftly acted to apprehend the suspect and care for the affected members of our Capitol Hill community."

Elected officials on both sides of the aisle in the state condemned the violence.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner called the attack an “extraordinarily disturbing development.”

“Intimidation and violence – especially against public servants – has no place in our society,” he wrote on Twitter. "This is an extraordinarily disturbing development, and my thoughts are with the staff members who were injured."

Jason Miyares, the state's Republican attorney general, said that "the coward who did this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"Political violence is always unacceptable," Miyares wrote on Twitter, also expressing wishes for the staffers' speedy recovery.

Since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, threats to lawmakers and their families have increased sharply. The U.S. Capitol Police investigated around 7,500 cases of potential threats against members of Congress in 2022. The year before, they investigated around 10,000 threats to members, more than twice the number from four years earlier.

In October, a man broke into the San Francisco home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanding to speak with her, before he smashed her husband, Paul, over the head with a hammer.

In July, a man accosted New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican who was running for governor of New York, as he spoke at a campaign event and told Zeldin, “You’re done.” Zeldin wrestled the man to the ground and escaped with only a minor scrape.