Think About it -- Unpacking the Haymarket, VA Incident

Think About It Think About it -- Unpacking the Haymarket, VA Incident
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Faith Based Security NetworkFaith Based Security Network

Sep 30, 2023

I rarely write about a recent incident because the available news is designed to catch readers with emotion-grabbing snippets that may not be true. And often even when I do have inside information, releasing it would not be appropriate.

I have no inside information on what happened recently at the Park Valley Church (PVC) in Haymarket, VA. All information in this writing is only from what is currently public information.

Haymarket Virginia is in the northeast corner of Virginia, 30 miles west-southwest of Falls Church. 1,152 residents live there. Though the town is small, the area is densely populated. Enough so that PVC operates on three sites and on-line. They have a security program.

A 35-year-old man was arrested in the Sunday morning service there by alert authorities on 9/24/23. A deadly attack was likely averted.

The subject had posted violent threat intentions on social media. Though the threats were vague, they were distinct enough to warrant the issuance of a search warrant of the subject’s home, an Emergency Substantial Risk Order (ESRO) and arrest. Less distinct than the threat was the specific intended target; pictures he took at 3:00 AM that day of Park Valley Church.

One discerning viewer (in Laurel, MD) of those posts was concerned enough to contact their local law-enforcement office (Anne Arundel County Police [AACP] in Maryland).

AACP reviewed the posts, concluded the subject may reside in Falls Church, VA and alerted Fairfax County (VA) Police (FCP) who went to the home. Though the subject was not there, FCP obtained information on a vehicle the subject could be driving.

Knowing by then the images posted were of PVC in Prince William County, FCP then contacted Prince William County police (PWCD). PWCD determined they already had an active duty officer serving at the church on a special detail, so contacted him to see if that vehicle was in the parking lot. It was.

That officer then contacted church staff who informed him their security team knew where the man was in the audience as they had picked up on his suspicious looks and had been monitoring him in the service.

Think About it

There were a lot of folks who did the right thing independently and jointly; enough to warrant writing about.

This effective communication could have broken down at any level. It didn’t and this subject was in cuffs by 10:15 AM on the day he posted his threats.

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