Local police used Va.’s ‘red flag’ law 4 times in 2022

Virginia Oaks residents didn’t know what to think on Sept. 25, when their neighbor, Pete Donovan Womack, 29, roamed the community with a gun, firing into trees, stopping cars and pointing his weapon at people. Eventually, an off-duty federal police officer who lives in the Gainesville community called 911 and, while trying to disarm him, shot Womack in the upper body.

Four days later -- the same day Womack was discharged from the hospital -- Prince William County police filed a petition under Virginia’s “red flag” law for an emergency substantial risk order, asserting that Womack “pose[d] a substantial risk of personal injury to self or others in the near future by [his] possession or acquisition of a firearm[.]”

Local police officers petitioned the court for four ESR orders, including Womack’s, in 2022. All four were in response to people experiencing a severe mental health crisis.

A neighbor called police reporting Womack’s erratic behavior, and family members called police for help in three more instances when their relatives were threatening them or threatening to take their own lives using guns. The calls resulted in the removal of five guns from dangerous situations in greater Prince William this past year, according to court records. 

Virginia’s “red flag” law, which took effect in July 2020, prohibits a person from purchasing, possessing or transporting any firearm while a substantial risk order remains in effect. If the gun owner subject to the order possesses a concealed handgun permit, the permit must also be surrendered to court.

The purpose of the law is to keep people safe from guns when there is a reason to believe they pose a threat to themselves or others. Guns can only be temporarily confiscated by police. 

When police execute an ESR order, a court hearing must be held within 14 days. A gun owner can ask a judge to remove the order so they can get their firearms back. A judge then decides whether guns should be returned or held for up to six more months. Orders can be extended for additional six-month periods with no limit on extensions.

According to data from the Virginia State Police, use of the orders is rare but ticked up over the past two years. But the law remains controversial. Del. Marie E. March, R-7^th, of Floyd, has filed House Bill 1394, calling for the complete repeal of Virginia’s red flag law, which the General Assembly will consider when it reconvenes in January 2023. The Democratic-controlled state Senate killed a similar bill March filed in early 2022.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights organization, is again strongly supporting March’s bill. The group says Virginia’s red flag law should be repealed because the orders “don’t get any help for a person in crisis” but rather only confiscate their firearms. “This does nothing to prevent the person from committing suicide or harming others,” the group claims. 

The group also asserts that ESR orders do not allow a person a chance to defend the accusation against them for two weeks, which it contends is a violation of the Second Amendment and akin to taking a weapon without due process. A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of red flag laws was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in November 2020. 

Virginia Oaks case

In Womack’s case, a magistrate issued an initial ESR order, which a Prince William circuit court judge extended on Oct. 13. Represented by counsel at the hearing, Womack agreed to be subject to an ESR order through Dec. 30, 2022. 

According to court records, Prince William County police investigated Womack’s case and presented evidence about the events that transpired in the hours leading up to Womack being shot, hospitalized and criminally charged on Sept. 25. 

That fall evening, Womack was walking around the neighborhood with his dog and a gun and at one point helped a neighbor hang Halloween decorations, witnesses said. Shortly afterward, he flagged down a passing vehicle, yelled at the driver and pointed his handgun at the driver before walking away.

Other neighbors told police they saw Womack standing in the middle of the road with his dog, flagging down vehicles and pointing his gun at the people inside them. Womack also approached a neighbor walking on the sidewalk, pointed his gun at him and told him to run. The neighbor told police that he “ran away in fear,” according to court records. 

Womack then stopped the off-duty federal police officer and his wife as they drove on Clubhouse Drive. Womack pointed his Glock handgun directly into their vehicle, looked at each of them and then waved them on, according to court records.

After the federal officer and his wife arrived home, the officer called 911 while watching Womack walk between parked cars with his gun at his side. The officer told police he could hear Womack saying something but couldn’t understand his words or whether he was speaking to someone, court records said.

At one point, the federal officer said he lost sight of Womack but then saw Womack’s dog walking alone. 

The federal officer told police he  took cover behind a Toyota 4 Runner parked on the street. When he caught sight of Womack again, he yelled to him to show his hands. Womack looked at the federal officer, smiled and put his hands up -- then quickly reached for the right side of his pants. The officer then fired a single shot toward Womack with his department-issued weapon but missed, he told police, according to court papers and a police press release issued at the time.

The federal police officer again took cover while Womack continued walking toward him with his hands up. The officer said he repeatedly ordered Womack to get face down on the sidewalk. Womack got down on his knees with his hands up and continued to smile at the federal officer. When Womack reached down again, the officer fired another shot at Womack, striking his upper body, according to court papers and the police press release.

Prince William County police officers arrived shortly thereafter and provided immediate first aid to Womack until rescue personnel arrived and transported him to an area hospital, where his injuries were determined to be non-life-threatening, a police press release said.

Police located Womack’s gun in some nearby bushes and confiscated it, court papers said.

Womack’s parents told police that he had never been violent and that “his behavior and actions are not normal,” according to court records.

Womack’s mother told police that Womack takes depression medication and medication to help him sleep. After speaking to her son at the hospital, Womack’s mother told police that he would be seeking help for his mental health crisis and “violent actions,” according to court records. 

After Womack’s four-day hospital stay, Womack’s mother said he would return to their residence upon his discharge.

At the time of the incident, the police took possession of Womack’s Glock handgun as part of the criminal investigation.

On Dec. 15, Womack pleaded guilty with deferred disposition to three charges of brandishing a firearm and one charge of reckless handling of a firearm in connection with the incident, according to court records. After three years of complying with his probation conditions -- including not possessing firearms -- the brandishing charges will be dismissed. 

Contacted by the Prince William Times, Womack’s attorney, James Hundley, declined to comment on the record.

Other guns taken after family members called police 

Manassas police obtained an ESR order in May 2022 to confiscate a firearm from a 33-year-old Manassas woman after her brother and sister said she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had not taken her medication and had physically assaulted both of them in the home they shared, according to court records.

The woman’s siblings told police that after she physically attacked her brother, she sprayed her sister with pepper spray and then brandished a shotgun, causing them to fear for their lives. Crisis negotiators and mental health professionals responded to the scene along with law enforcement officers, according to court records.

Manassas police petitioned the court for an ESR order, stating that the due to the decline in her mental health, “it’s clear that [she] poses a high risk of causing injuries to herself or others in the immediate future,” court records said.

After the ESR order was granted, a long gun “was turned over [to police] right away. There was no confrontation or anything,” Manassas City police spokesman Captain Brian Larkin said. However, he noted that the weapon police confiscated turned out to be a 1077 air rifle, which he said is a BB gun, although it looks real. 

In May and June, Prince William police used the red flag law twice to remove guns from two suicidal individuals in separate incidents in Woodbridge.

Prince William police removed a Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm handgun from a 61-year-old Woodbridge man and returned it to the man’s brother who had lent it to him just days before for protection from an alleged violent roommate, according to court records.

The Woodbridge man had just sent a text message to his brother stating: “I’ll leave the door unlocked, and I’ll be in the bedroom upstairs. … I’m sorry but I can’t take it anymore. I’m tired of living like this. F*** THE WORLD! I’m sorry.”  

The text message prompted the man’s brother to call police, and the Woodbridge man was detained for a mental health evaluation, court records said.

Police recovered the handgun from the nightstand next to the man’s bed. Police returned the weapon to the man’s brother after he proved to the court that he was the rightful owner, according to court records.

Police also confiscated a Thompson Center Arms 50-caliber musket from the Woodbridge man, according to court records.

In June, police responded to a call about a 30-year-old Woodbridge man experiencing a schizophrenic episode after not taking his prescribed medication for an extended period of time. The man’s family told police that they were scared for his safety as well as their own because the man was irate and pacing. They told police they heard the man “working the slide of a firearm” and stating: “Let them come arrest me.” The man was hospitalized for his mental condition, court records show.     

“Two pistols” were confiscated from the man after the ESR order was granted, according to 1^st Sgt. Jonathan Perok, a Prince William County police spokesman.

In its first year after being enacted by the Virginia General Assembly, local police employed the red flag law to confiscate more than 20 guns from at least eight Prince William County residents and one Manassas City resident. In 2022, the law was used to remove five guns from three Prince William County residents, not including the BB gun from the Manassas resident.

The use of ESR  orders in the county is consistent with “the intent of the law,” which “is to keep people safe when there is a reason to believe the individual poses a threat to themselves or others,” Perok said.

Red flag laws are “a good tool to have” in certain situations, "for the safety of everyone involved,” said Larkin, the City of Manassas police spokesman. 

Reach Cher Muzyk at cmuzyk@fauquier.com