Crime & Safety

Fairfax County Police Officer Fired After 2009 Shooting of Unarmed Man

David Scott ZIants was terminated May 6 following an 18-month internal investigation

The Fairfax County police officer who fatally shot unarmed driver David Masters on Richmond Highway in 2009 has been fired, the Washington Post reported last week.

David Scott Ziants, of Prince William County, was fired May 6 for improper use of deadly force following an internal investigation

According to the Post: "The department confirmed that David Scott Ziants, 28, was the officer who was standing alongside Masters’s Chevrolet Blazer truck on Nov. 13, 2009, when it started to roll slowly away from him and several other officers. Ziants told investigators he thought one of the other officers had been struck, and that Masters was reaching for a weapon."

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The incident happened on Richmond Highway near the instersection of Fort Hunt Road.


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