UNWELL

Bat-Wielding Man Who Attacked Dem Rep’s Office Is Schizophrenic, Dad Says

Xuan Kha Tran Pham, 49, had not taken his medication in three weeks, his father said.

The man who allegedly entered the Virginia office of Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and swung at two of his staff members with a metal baseball bat Monday suffers from schizophrenia, his father told CNN. Xuan Kha Tran Pham, 49, had not taken his medication in three weeks. “He is in a really bad condition,” the father said. “All day and all night, he mumbles … he talks and looks like he talks with someone in his brain, and suddenly, he is shouting angrily.” State court records also show Pham was charged in January 2022 with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, attempted disarmament of the officer’s stun gun, and resisting arrest—but they were dropped. Earlier the same morning of the assaults, home security footage captured Pham chasing a screaming woman in his neighborhood with a bat. Although Pham had contacted Connolly’s office in the past for help, Connolly said he did not believe there was a clear motivation for the attacks. “I think we are talking about real mental illness,” he said.