The Virginia police officer who catfished a 15-year-old girl in California and then killed three members of her family had been detained for a psychiatric evaluation in 2016 after threatening to kill himself and his dad, according to a police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times, raising questions about how Austin Lee Edwards ever became a cop. Edwards, who was ultimately killed in a shootout with cops, had been a deputy for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for a month after working as a Virginia State Police officer. In 2016, he locked himself in a bathroom and harmed himself, leading his dad to calling police, the report says. Edwards bit his dad and tried to leave when he heard police had been called, also evading treatment, according to the report. Police issued an emergency custody order and temporary detention order against Edwards. He didn’t disclose the incident to the Virginia State Police when he began training in 2021, said an agency spokesperson, who added that a “thorough background check” was done and no “indicators of concern” arose during his employment.
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