Killing of Sydney Wilson

Image from body camera footage. Sydney Wilson lunges with a knife while Peter Liu holds up a gun at her.

On September 16, 2024, in Reston, Virginia, former college basketball player Sydney Wilson, an African American woman, was shot dead by an Asian American police officer, Peter Liu. After Liu was sent to Wilson's apartment for a welfare check, Wilson brandished a kitchen knife and slashed Liu in the head multiple times before he shot her; she later died in the hospital. Liu had been sent to Wilson's apartment due to mental health concerns, and his response to the incident was widely considered self-defense.

Background

Sydney Wilson was born in Pennsylvania. She graduated from St. John's College High School. She formerly played college basketball for Georgetown University, and was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Wilson was 33 years old at the time of her death. According to her LinkedIn page, she worked as a leasings operations officer for JLL Mid-Atlantic. Earlier in the year, she had posted on social media about receiving a mental health training certification.

Peter Liu had been a police officer for 14 years, and had received crisis intervention training.

Incident

On September 16, 2024, the Fairfax County Police Department received a request for a welfare check for Sydney Wilson from a mental health counselor, who described her as being in an "agitated state". Officer Peter Liu arrived at Wilson's apartment building at around 10:20 a.m. Liu knocked on the door, and Wilson answered, saying "hi" twice before closing the door again. Liu continued knocking on the door and asking for Wilson to open it. After a few minutes, Wilson opened the door, said "how are you?", then lunged at Liu with a kitchen knife. Liu backed up and pointed his gun at Wilson, repeatedly telling her to back away, but she continued toward Liu after some hesitation. Liu was backed into a dead end and Wilson slashed him multiple times in the upper forehead. Finally, he shot her twice, and an additional three times after she appeared to still be approaching him, before she fell to the floor. Liu then radioed for medical assistance. Liu's injuries were not life-threatening, but Wilson was pronounced dead at the hospital later that day.

Aftermath

Georgetown WBB

@GeorgetownWBB

Georgetown women's basketball mourns the tragic loss of Sydney Wilson (C'13). Forever a Hoya.

#HoyaSaxa

September 20, 2024

Four days after the event, on September 20, the Georgetown Hoyas women's basketball team, which Wilson had formerly played on, posted on X about her death, describing it as a "tragic loss". After body camera footage of the event was released on October 14, 2024, the post was widely criticized by users, and a Community Note was added to the post, clarifying that Wilson had been shot after she attacked Liu.

Fairfax police chief Kevin Davis defended Peter Liu's response to the incident.

On October 14, during a press conference, Fairfax police chief Kevin Davis approved of Liu's actions. Although Fairfax County usually sends mental health counselors with law enforcement when dealing with mental health–related calls, Liu went on his own because the counselors were responding to another call and he had undergone crisis intervention training. Davis said the call to Wilson was "appropriately dispatched", and that Liu had been placed on "restricted duty" pending investigations into the shooting.