John Matthews
WMAL News
MANASSAS — (CNN) The Army staff sergeant accused of killing his wife and a Prince William County police officer in his Woodbridge home over the weekend will be held without bond.
32-year-old Ronald Hamilton was arraigned in Prince William County Circuit Court Monday morning in a pair of brief hearings. Hamilton was shackled and surrounded by six police officers during his court appearances. He is charged with one count of murder of a police officer, one count of murder, two counts of malicious wounding of a police officer, and two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
In an police report released after the arraignment, the arresting officer in the case indicated that Hamilton did make statements to law enforcement officers that he shot his wife and the police officers involved in Saturday’s shootings.
Police say Hamilton shot and killed his wife, Crystal, and then ambushed the officers when they arrived to follow up on a complaint of domestic abuse that had been made by Crystal Hamilton before she was killed.
Officer Ashley Guindon was killed in the incident on what was her first of work after being sworn in as a police officer on Friday. Two other officers were wounded, but both are expected to recover.
The couple’s 11-year-old son fled the residence before the shooting, and is now being cared for by family members.
Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert told reporters Monday he has not decided to yet whether to seek the death penalty in the case.
Guindon, 28, had interned with the Prince William County Police Department while she attended graduate school. She officially joined the police force in 2015 and finished training in June, but she took some time off for “personal reasons.”
She decided to come back and was sworn in to the department on Friday.
“We were struck by her passion to do this job,” county police chief Steve Hudson said. “She couldn’t get it out of her blood. She clearly had a passion to serve others that went beyond herself.”
Before Saturday, the department has had three officers killed in the line of duty since 1970, it said on its website.
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