Staffers attacked with bat in Virginia congressman’s office

A person armed with a baseball bat attacked two congressional aides at a county office in Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, the congressman said in a statement.

Mr Connolly, a Democrat, said the person in his office in Fairfax, Va., committed “an act of violence” against two members of his staff, who were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Sergeant Lisa Gardner, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax City Police, said at a press conference Monday afternoon that the assailant, a man believed to be a member of Mr Connolly’s, entered the office around 10:30 a.m. with what appeared to be a metal baseball bat and hit two employees in the upper body.

Sergeant Gardner said a motive was not immediately known and charges against the suspect, whose name was not immediately released, would follow.

Both staff members were conscious when police arrived about five minutes after an 911 call, she said.

“You could absolutely tell the people inside were scared, they were hiding,” she said.

“It’s honestly scary that someone can walk into an office with a baseball bat and just wave at innocent victims,” ​​she added.

Mr. Connolly represents a portion of the Northern Virginia suburbs west of Washington, DC. He was first elected to Congress in 2008. In a statement after the attack, he said he has “the best team in Congress.”

“My county office staff make themselves available to voters and the public every day,” Mr. Connolly said in the statement. “The thought of anyone taking advantage of my staff’s reach to commit violence is unconscionable and devastating.”

The attack comes amid an increase in threats and violent political statements against members of Congress in recent years. In October, an intruder bludgeoned Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in their San Francisco home after he yelled, “Where’s Nancy?”