Florida man arrested for trespassing at Virginia day care; AK-47 found in car, police say

A Florida man was arrested after he allegedly trespassed on a Virginia day care center’s property and police found an AK-47 in his car, Fairfax County Police said.

In a series of tweets, the police department said the suspect is 32-year-old Gainesville resident Eric Sandow. He was seen trespassing, unarmed, at Dolley Madison Preschool in McLean, Virginia, and told responding officers he “was making his way to the CIA.”

The preschool is a few minutes away from the CIA building in Langley, Virginia.

Yesterday, our officers took an AK-47 off the streets after a man was trespassing at the Dolly Madison Preschool in McLean. Officers found the unarmed man who said he was making his way to the CIA. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/l3Vdo12Ks8 — Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 24, 2023

Officers detained Sandow and executed a search warrant of his car, where they found two firearms — one of which was an AK-47, according to police. He has been charged with felony possession of a firearm on school property.

The incident comes after another suspect was arrested in the area earlier this month after wielding a metal baseball bat and attacking two members of Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly’s staff. The incident occurred at Connolly’s office in northern Virginia, and the suspect in that attack was identified as 49-year-old Xuan Kha Tran Pham of Fairfax. He faces charges of aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding.

Connolly was not at the office during the attack. An intern — who was starting their first day of work — and a senior aide were brought to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and have since been released.

In nearby Washington, D.C., on Monday, another suspect crashed a U-Haul truck into security barriers across from the White House. The driver of the truck, who had a Nazi flag, has been identified as 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula of Chesterfield, Missouri, according to court documents. He has been charged with one federal count of depredation of property of the U.S.