Police said a 39-year-old woman and a dog died, and three others were hurt.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A traffic crash on Interstate 495 near Annandale erupted into a road rage stabbing attack Sunday that left a 39-year-old woman and a dog dead and three other people seriously injured before a Virginia state trooper shot and killed the knife-wielding suspect, authorities said.
The violence played out in daylight along the Capital Beltway, where passing drivers said they saw damaged vehicles, people bleeding and a man swinging a knife near the shoulder as traffic tightened into a standstill. Virginia State Police said the trooper fired after the suspect confronted him with a knife. Investigators are still working to determine what sparked the attack and to document the events leading up to the trooper’s shooting.
Authorities said the incident began after a crash on I-495 southbound in Fairfax County. The location was near the Little River Turnpike exit in the Annandale area, a busy interchange that connects Beltway traffic to local roads and shopping corridors. Police said a trooper was dispatched at about 1:17 p.m. Sunday for a reported road rage incident tied to the crash. The timing mattered, investigators said, because initial findings suggest the stabbings occurred just before, or as, the trooper was arriving. By the time law enforcement reached the scene, multiple people had already been wounded, and drivers were calling 911 to report a man with a knife.
Witnesses described the moment the normal rhythm of Beltway driving broke into chaos. One driver said he and his wife slowed with traffic and saw two vehicles that looked “kind of banged up.” As they crept forward, he said, he saw two people covered in blood and a man holding a knife. The witness said a woman appeared to try to stop the attacker, but the man continued swinging the blade. “It was really, it was really scary,” the witness said. Another witness described seeing a woman covered in blood trying to defend herself from a man near the roadway. A third driver said he saw a struggle and then watched as a trooper pulled up and fired multiple shots at the suspect.
Virginia State Police said four people were stabbed. One of them, Michelle Adams, 39, died from her injuries, authorities said. A dog was also stabbed and died at the scene, police said. Three other victims were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. Police identified the injured victims as Dana Bonnell, 36; Mary C. Flood, 37; and Heather Miller, 40. Officials did not immediately provide new details Monday about their conditions beyond saying they suffered serious injuries. Authorities also have not released the relationships among the victims, whether they were in the same vehicle, or how the confrontation moved from a crash to multiple stabbings.
Police identified the suspect as Jared Llamado, 32, of McLean. State police said the trooper encountered Llamado armed with a knife and fired his weapon in self-defense after being confronted. Llamado was taken to a hospital and later died, police said. The trooper was not injured. Authorities said the incident is not believed to be related to terrorism. Investigators have not said whether the suspect spoke to victims before the attack, whether any threats were heard, or whether the crash itself appeared intentional or accidental.
The scene shut down large sections of the Beltway for hours on Sunday. Motorists described a long, trapped queue where cars could not easily exit, creating a slow-moving corridor of vehicles passing a concentrated police response. Emergency lights, lane closures and detours turned the highway into a bottleneck that spread to nearby routes. In the Washington region, where I-495 carries commuters and interstate travelers around the capital, closures often trigger heavy backups across feeder roads and adjacent highways. Transportation alerts directed drivers away from the closed stretch between major interchanges, and people who were already on the Beltway described inching forward with little sense of when they would be released.
Investigators are now working two parallel tracks: the stabbing investigation and the review of the trooper’s use of deadly force. Virginia State Police said the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Fairfax Field Office, is investigating. Officials said the trooper who fired has been placed on leave as the shooting is reviewed. Authorities have not said when a public summary of findings might be released, whether prosecutors will independently review the case, or what evidence has been collected so far. Investigators are expected to gather statements from victims who are able to speak, from eyewitness drivers, and from first responders who arrived after the initial 911 calls.
Many questions remain about the moments after the crash and before the stabbing began. Police have not described how many vehicles were involved in the collision, whether it was considered minor or severe, or whether either driver tried to leave the scene. Authorities have also not said whether the suspect and victims were all part of the crash or whether some were Good Samaritans who stopped. Investigators have not released details about the weapon, whether any other knives were recovered, or whether the suspect had any prior interaction with police. They have also not said whether traffic cameras, dashboard video, or other recordings captured the attack or the shooting, though the area is covered by highway infrastructure and many drivers use phone cameras during major backups.
For residents and frequent commuters, the attack was a jarring reminder of how quickly ordinary highway conflict can turn violent. People who live near the Beltway described the area as a place where crashes and congestion are common, but where stabbing attacks on the shoulder are rare. Several drivers said they replayed what they saw in their minds after they got home, especially the image of blood on clothing and the frantic movements near the cars. Police have not released the dog’s name or information about which victim owned it, but its death was included in the toll authorities reported Monday.
By Monday, state police had released the names and ages of the dead and injured, and the investigation remained ongoing as authorities continued to piece together the sequence of events from the crash to the final confrontation. No new charges will be filed against the suspect because he is dead, but investigators said they are still working to clarify the cause of the crash, the motive for the stabbings, and the circumstances of the trooper’s shooting.
Author note: Last updated March 2, 2026.