Mental illness concerns for man accused of attacking congressional staffers with a bat

FAIRFAX, Va. — The suspect accused of assaulting staffers for U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly inside his district office is also charged for a separate attack earlier in the day.

Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax appeared for his first court hearing via a video conference call on Tuesday. Pham is facing three felony charges including malicious wounding and a misdemeanor hate crime assault.

Pham laid in his bed with a blanket of his face the entire time. He never once addressed the judge or looked up.

Police in Fairfax City said he used a metal baseball bat to attack two female staffers including an intern who was two hours into her first day on the job. One was hit on the side while another was struck in the head, according to Connolly.

The two victims have already been released from the hospital. 

“We're physically cleaning up the office,” Connolly said. “There's blood and glass in the front part of the office but the longer-term challenge is trying to recover from the trauma."

Prior to the attack, Pham is accused of a separate incident where he allegedly chased after a woman after he asked if she was white. Police said he chased the woman until she retreated into her car. Pham reportedly hit her windshield with the bat and ran away.

Surveillance video from a neighbor captured a woman yelling as a man who appeared to be Pham approached her with a bat in his hand. 

Neighbor Brian Roberts claimed Pham was recently aggressive toward him as he was driving. Roberts said according to Pham’s father, he was struggling with schizophrenia.

“It's just really sad,” Roberts said. “We need to do things to make sure if we do have individuals with a mental illness, that they're properly kept from hurting the public.”

Pham faced other charges in January 2022 including assault on law enforcement, but they were eventually dismissed. An incident report said Pham was screaming, charging toward an officer, and asking him to shoot. Based on court documents, the court ordered Pham to supervised release on the contingency of a mental health treatment.

Since he was compliant for six months of the release, his case was dropped.

As his staff members recover, Connolly said what happened only intensified the need for more security for Congress members.

“I think it exposes the vulnerability of a lot of district offices all over the country,” he said.