Fairfax County's police chief said yesterday that one of hisofficers accidentally shot and killed an optometrist outside theunarmed man's townhouse Tuesday night as an undercover detective wasabout to arrest him on suspicion of gambling on sports.
Police had been secretly making bets with Salvatore J. Culosi Jr.,37, since October as part of a gambling investigation, according tocourt records. They planned to search his home in the Fair Oaks area,just off Lee Highway, shortly after 9:30 p.m.
Culosi came out of his townhouse on Cavalier Landing Court about9:35 p.m. and was standing next to the detective's sport-utilityvehicle, police said, when the detective gave a signal to tacticalofficers assembled nearby to move in and arrest Culosi.
'As they approached him . . . one officer's weapon, a handgun, wasunintentionally discharged,' said Fairfax Police Chief David M.Rohrer.
Culosi was not making any threatening moves when he was shot oncein the upper part of his body, police said. He was taken to InovaFairfax Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The last fatal police shooting in Fairfax was in September 2000,when an officer killed a man threatening him with a woodcutting tool.
'On behalf of the Fairfax County Police Department and myself, Iwish to express our condolences and our sincere sympathy to Mr.Culosi's family and friends,' Rohrer said. He declined to answerquestions after making the statement.
Police departments generally do not accept responsibility for anofficer-involved shooting before an investigation is completed.
Culosi's family in Annandale was grief-stricken and declined to beinterviewed. Culosi's older sister, Constance Culosi Gulley, issued astatement saying that her brother was 'a respected local businessmanand doctor with his whole life ahead of him and didn't deserve tohave his life end this way.'
Culosi grew up just off Annandale Road, graduated from BishopO'Connell High School and the University of Virginia, then attendedthe Southern College of Optometry in Memphis and became a doctor ofoptometry. He opened practices in Manassas and Warrenton that areattached to Wal-Mart stores.
The officer, a 17-year veteran assigned to the police tacticalunit, was not identified. He was placed on leave with pay whilepolice conduct both an internal administrative investigation and acriminal investigation. Rohrer also expressed support for theofficer, calling him a valued veteran of the department.
Lt. Richard Perez, a police spokesman, said he could not say howor why the gun discharged.
'When you draw the weapon, you always try to assess what thepotential threat is going to be,' Perez said. He said the officers inthe tactical squad are 'highly trained officers. Do unintentionalshootings occur? Absolutely. We're humans, and these kind of thingsdo occur.'
Perez said he did not know what type of handgun Culosi was shotwith.
After several years without any shootings, officers shot andwounded several people last year, including one of their own officersin an accidental shooting. A robbery suspect was shot this month onRoute 1. In the nearly 39 years that Robert F. Horan Jr. has been thechief prosecutor in Fairfax, no officer has been charged withimproperly shooting someone.
Rohrer said in his statement that the tactical squad routinelyperforms arrests and provides support for detectives executing searchwarrants. The chief said in his statement that 'we will fully review,as always, our policies, practices and this operation in detail.'
Culosi's family said that 'police action that results in the deathof an unarmed, nonthreatening person calls for a full and openinvestigation. We hope proper steps are taken by county police toensure other families won't have to endure similar pain.'
Culosi was a lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers fan, longtime friendSteve Lunceford said. Culosi excelled at soccer, playing on travelteams as a youth and for the O'Connell varsity. He was not marriedand had no children.
'He was gregarious, outgoing, loved to sing off-key at weddings,'Lunceford said. 'For this to happen, it's surreal. The police need toaccount for and be held accountable for their actions.'
Deon Chapman said he became a casual friend of Culosi's aftermeeting him at a pool tournament at a Fairfax bar about 10 years ago.'He was a laid-back guy, funny guy. . . . I've never known him toeven carry a pocketknife. This is a college boy, clean-cut.' He alsosaid he had no idea that Culosi might have been a bookie.
In an affidavit for the search warrant, Detective David J. Baucom,who often investigates sports gambling in Fairfax, said he met Culosiat a bar in October and started making NFL bets with him by cellphone. Baucom said he placed more than $28,000 in bets on gamesthrough last Sunday and met Culosi about every two weeks to pay hisdebts or collect his winnings, either at a restaurant or Culosi'shome. Through Jan. 16, Baucom had lost more than $5,500 to Culosi,his affidavit stated.
Lt. Steve Thompson, Baucom's supervisor in the police organizedcrime division, said in a recent interview that there is no shortageof sports bookies in Fairfax and that police investigate only thosewho meet certain criteria. He said that Fairfax typically goes afteronly those bookies with many customers who take in $100,000 in betsper week and that larger bookies will take in $300,000 to $400,000 ona busy football weekend.
Last month, another investigation headed by Baucom resulted in thearrest of a man suspected of being a bookie who lives in Washingtonbut operated in Fairfax. When police searched his safe deposit boxes,they seized nearly $350,000 in cash, court records show. Chargesagainst that man are pending.
After shooting Culosi, police searched his townhouse. The resultsof that search were not available yesterday.
Perez said Culosi had not displayed a weapon or shown any violenttendencies while he was being investigated by Baucom. But Perez saidpolice had to be prepared for any possibility, because 'theunexpected can occur.'
Staff writers Allan Lengel and Carol Morello contributed to thisreport.
