CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WTVR)--Police sources told CBS 6 reporter Jon Burkett that Mark Lowe, the man accused of trying to kill a Chesterfield lawyer, was begging officers to shoot him.
Police said he fired a rifle at his estranged wife’s attorney. Thursday night that attorney, David DeFazio, talked about his unusual and terrifying day at the office.
"I don't know what I'm going to do,” said DeFazio. “I got to calm down and think about a few things." DeFazio, a family law attorney, a father, and a husband, never in his 14 years of practice thought he’d have a day like Thursday.
DeFazio represents the mother of suspect Lowe’s children. There was a custody hearing last Monday and police said that apparently Lowe was not happy about the ruling.
But DeFazio was out at lunch when police say Lowe first showed up at his office in the 9400 block of Courthouse Road. "He came in before and they told him I was at lunch,” DeFazio said.
Around 1:30 p.m. DeFazio came back from lunch, and in the parking lot, he heard someone shout his name. "I got out of my car and the guy said my name,” recounted DeFazio. “He then brought the rifle up and I started running."
DeFazio ran straight through the building and out a side entrance, around the retention pond on the property’s edge and toward the intersection of Courthouse Road and Route 10. "I figured a police officer would be there because it's so close to the courthouse, but I didn't see one," he said.
DeFazio said he looked back to see it the suspect was still chasing him and was thankful he was not. But he said he immediately began worrying about the people who work in his office and building. He said he breathed a huge sigh of relief that no one was shot or hurt. "I certainly didn't think this would happen," he said.
Police credit an off-duty Capitol police officer and a plainclothes Chesterfield officer for arresting the suspect on the scene.
Mark Lowe has been charged with attempted murder and three other felonies and is in jail with no bond.
Related:
UPDATE: Man arrested after shooting near Chesterfield Courthouse
