Local police department speaks out about slain Virginia officer

WOODBRIDGE, Va. (AP/WISH) – It was supposed to be a routine domestic disturbance call, but when officer Ashley Guindon arrived at a northern Virginia home she was shot and killed. Now, police departments across the country are sharing their condolences.

28-year-old Guindon was killed when she responded to that call. It was her first day on patrol after rejoining the department. When she arrived Army Sgt. Ronald Hamilton opened fire, killing her and wounded two other officers. His wife was found slain inside the home.

Guindon was pronounced dead at the hospital where officers Jesse Hempen, 31, and David McKeown, 33, were being treated on Sunday. Police did not detail their injuries. Officials said they face long recoveries.

On Sunday, the Noblesville Police Department posted a statement about the shooting on their Facebook page. The post explains what an officers first day on the job was like.

“I remember my first shift working some 11 years ago, I was nervous, excited, and proud to be wearing a uniform like so many other people I looked up to. I knew I had a long way to go, but I was a cop! I’m sure Ashley felt that same way, but she didn’t get 11 more years to be a cop. She was an officer for mere hours,” the post said.

The officer went on to say they weren’t sure why they were posting this, but said that they want these horrible things to stop.

“I want people to be outraged and not just people who like the police, but everyone. Here is young woman that was dedicating her life to the citizens of her city and that only lasted hours. She was responding to a domestic situation where there were shots fired and the husband murdered his wife,” read the post.

In the post the officer says that now her name will be another one added to a growing list of officer who have been killed in the line of duty. Now, other officers will come together and celebrate her life and honor her sacrifice, but the post says that it will not be enough.

“In the end all of us in law enforcement will put on our uniforms and keep taking calls, but tonight I have one more person in a uniform I look up to.”

Prosecutors say they are seeking the death penalty against Hamilton.  He’s charged with capital murder, first-degree murder and malicious wounding.

Police have said Hamilton and his wife argued Saturday, she called 911, he fatally shot her, then fired at arriving officers.