Federal immigration authorities want to take custody of an illegal immigrant who was armed with two knives and accused of trying to grab a Fairfax County police officer’s firearm following a domestic incident in Annandale.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement urged Fairfax County officials to hand over Nehemia Noel Fuentes-Banegas, a 26-year-old Honduran national, after his confrontation with police officers last week.
Authorities said they were called to the 7000 block of Sutter Lane around 10 a.m. Tuesday after the suspect’s wife said Mr. Fuentes-Banegas was harming himself with a pair of knives and threatening her.
Police said Mr. Fuentes-Banegas ran from the house when officers arrived and hid in a wooded area near the home. Officers searched the area for roughly 15 minutes when the suspect leapt out of the brush and grabbed an officer’s pistol.
“Our suspect takes his right hand, he grabs the firearm that the police officer had in his hand, and the top of the suspect’s hand was around the top barrel of that firearm, and the bottom of his hand was wrapped around the frame of that firearm,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said during a press conference.
The officer fired three shots, grazing the suspect, Chief Davis said. Another officer used a Taser to help subdue Mr. Fuentes-Banegas.
He was charged with attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer and has been jailed without bond, police said.
Chief Davis said the suspect has a “significant domestic violence past” with his wife.
Court records show Mr. Fuentes-Banegas was arrested and charged in April with suffocation, abduction and assault of a family member. The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office dropped the charges a month later.
ICE requested Fairfax County to transfer custody of Mr. Fuentes-Banegas to prevent his winding up in public.
“This criminal illegal alien from Honduras attacked a law enforcement officer and attempted to take the officer’s gun,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement.
“ICE is calling on Governor Abigail Spanberger and her fellow sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this dangerous criminal from jail,” Ms. Bis said. “Governor Spanberger’s sanctuary policies have made the Commonwealth a magnet for illegal alien crime.”
Homeland Security said Mr. Fuentes-Banegas entered the country illegally through Texas in 2022.
