Unanswered questions remain after a security contractor was killed at the U.S. State Department’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington.
The incident happened the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 16, at the 65-acre campus near the intersection of Arlington Blvd (Route 50) and N. George Mason Drive.
Arlington’s 911 dispatch center received multiple calls shortly after 6 p.m. for a pedestrian struck on the P2 lot of the campus. Callers were asked to start CPR on the victim, who was then rushed via ambulance to Virginia Hospital Center in cardiac arrest, according to fire department radio traffic.
The exact circumstances around who struck the victim and with what type of vehicle remain unclear. The dispatches reference a large amount of blood on the scene.
Arlington County police and fire department spokespeople deferred comment to federal authorities.
The State Department confirmed that the victim, a security contractor, died.
“We can confirm the death of a uniformed protection officer (UPO) with the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) on November 16, 2021,” a spokesperson said in a statement, in response to an inquiry from ARLnow. “The officer was assigned to the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. The officer was a contractor whose job duties included domestic facilities protection. The Department of State extends its deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased.”
The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service arm, which is based in Rosslyn, is leading the investigation.
“We do not comment on ongoing investigations due to privacy and law enforcement sensitivity considerations,” the State Department spokesperson said. “There is no further information we can provide at this time.”
The spokesman did not respond to a question seeking more clarity on what exactly happened.
ARLnow is told that the contractor who was killed was a 22-year-old former high school football player from Waldorf, Maryland. His funeral was held earlier this month.
The National Foreign Affairs Training Center is one of several locations of the Foreign Service Institute, which trains U.S. foreign affairs personnel.