The quiet of Mantua shattered early Monday morning when police say 54-year-old Chhatra Bahadur Thapa fatally stabbed his wife and daughter inside their Fairfax County apartment before officers shot and killed him at the scene.
It was just after 5 a.m. on February 23, 2026, when Fairfax County police rushed to the 3900 block of Persimmon Drive for a reported domestic assault. Outside the apartment, officers found 33-year-old Mamta Thapa suffering from stab wounds. She was still alive when first responders arrived.
Inside, the scene was even more harrowing. Police say Thapa was armed with a knife and kneeling over his 34-year-old son-in-law, Santosh Kumar Basnet, who was also stabbed. Nearby, 52-year-old Binda Thapa, Thapa’s wife, lay wounded.
According to Police Chief Kevin Davis, officers gave repeated commands for Thapa to drop the knife. Authorities say he refused and continued the assault. One officer then fired his weapon, striking Thapa. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mamta and Binda Thapa were rushed to a hospital but did not survive their injuries. Basnet remains hospitalized in life-threatening condition as doctors work to save his life.
In the middle of the chaos, officers found a 1-year-old boy inside the apartment. The child, the son of Mamta and Basnet, was unharmed. He has since been placed with family members.
The officer who fired the shot has been identified as a two-and-a-half-year veteran of the department. As is standard procedure, he has been placed on restricted duty while investigations into both the stabbing and the police shooting continue. What began as a family home on a quiet street is now the center of a tragedy that has left two women dead, a man fighting for his life, and a child growing up without his mother.
