Georgetown under fire for honoring Sydney Wilson, former player who slashed cop with knife in fatal shooting
By Matt Ehalt,
14 hours ago
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
The Georgetown women’s basketball team has been criticized by some for a Sept. 20 tweet mourning former player Sydney Wilson’s death at the age of 33, after video recently emerged showing Wilson was shot on Sept. 16 by a Fairfax County (Va.) police officer after slashing him with a knife .
The tweet features a photo of Wilson in her Georgetown uniform and states: “Georgetown women’s basketball mourns the tragic loss of Sydney Wilson (C’13). Forever a Hoya.”
The post has been viewed at least 8.5 million times and has received at least 7,700 comments and 1,300 retweets or quote tweets as of Wednesday morning.
The post was flagged by X with the notation that readers added the context that “Sydney Wilson attempted to stab a police officer, who then shot her in self-defense.”
Sydney Wilson during a 2012 NCAA Tournament game. Getty Images
A mental health professional had asked for the police department to “conduct a welfare check” on Wilson “out of concern she was in an agitated state,” and a crisis intervention-trained officer, Peter Liu, arrived in Reston, Va., at roughly 10:07 a.m. ET, per police.
The video showed the officer knocking and introducing himself before Wilson closed the door before the conversation could go further.
Police said the officer knocked on her door for two minutes and 45 seconds, while Wilson placed her phone next to the door with music playing.
Wilson emerges from his room with a knife. Fairfax County Police Department
Wilson then emerged around 10:17 a.m. ET with a knife in her right hand and slashed the officer.
The officer started backing up and pulled out his gun while yelling, “Back up.” Wilson continued to press forward and slashed several more times before the officer shot her three times, per the police.
The slashing left the officer bloodied while he called to ask for support. Liu could be seen in another video bleeding from his forehead while being attended to by support.
Wilson slashing at the officer. Fairfax County Police Department
Police said Wilson was pronounced dead at a local hospital, while Liu received treatment for non-life-threatening injuries at an area hospital.
“Any loss of life is something we all mourn,” Chief of Police Kevin Davis said during a press conference. “The person whose life was lost, in this particular case, is no different. She has a family and friends and loved ones who love her very much, who care about her and undoubtedly are grieving and upset. We acknowledge that and we pray and our thoughts are with this particular family.”
Davis praised Liu for how he handled the situation, noting how he backed up as far as he could have gone before running out of space in the hallway.
The officer bleeding from his forehead. Fairfax County Police Department
“The second time she came through the door, she immediately attacked and slashed our police officer,” Davis said. “It could have been much, much worse.”
He added: “I’m very grateful that our police officer is recovering, alive and available to do this very difficult job, and under very difficult circumstances I believe he did an excellent job at attempting to defuse the situation, attempting to retreat from it an alter its outcome but he was just in a no-win situation and his life was being threatened.”
Wilson worked for real estate and investment management company JLL, according to her online obituary . The obituary added that she served as an inspirational speaker to young basketball players and volunteered in Washington, D.C. schools.
“Sydney’s legacy of friendship, empathy and love will live on in the hearts of everyone who ever met her,” her obituary states.
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Comments / 4
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Robert1
5h ago
They are allowed to mourn a former student, player, and friend whom they knew had mental issues. This is an unfortunate situation that shows the police should have a professional do wellness checks on citizens.
Gerald Hanna
9h ago
Under fire for what? She was a former student at one point in her life she did some good. Whatever happened that was and is tragic. She can be mourned without it being disrespectful to the officer. He’s probably feeling a certain way because he had to take a life.
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