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Fairfax County police are investigating a stabbing in Lorton and a vehicle fire discovered about an hour later at Laurel Hill Park, incidents that investigators preliminarily connected.
Officers responded to a reported stabbing in the 10400 block of Gunston Road at 2:04 a.m. July 9, according to police. They found a woman with multiple stab wounds. The woman told officers that a male acquaintance had injured her.
She was transported to a local hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
About an hour after the initial police response, officers were called to a vehicle fire at Laurel Hill Park’s Central Green. The burning Toyota SUV was on the lawn of the historic Barrett House, beneath a red chestnut tree.
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department personnel extinguished the blaze. Police preliminarily determined that the vehicle was connected to the stabbing investigation, but the precise nature of that connection was not established in the supplied reporting.
Officers searching the surrounding area subsequently found the suspected attacker suffering from severe burns. Fire and Rescue personnel transported him to a local hospital in life-threatening condition.
The available information does not explain how the man sustained his burns. His identification as the suspected attacker was based on the injured woman’s account to police, and no charge or court finding was reported.
Police remained at Laurel Hill Park throughout the day while police and fire investigators worked at the scene. Major Crime Bureau detectives were continuing to investigate the incident at the time of publication, and the fire investigation also remained open.
Authorities had not reported a final determination of the fire’s cause or announced any charges in connection with the stabbing. The circumstances surrounding the SUV fire, the man’s burn injuries and the relationship between the two incidents therefore remained unresolved in the supplied account.