Two coworkers died in a Manassas workplace shooting after a suspect warned that three people would die that day, then took his own life after a highway standoff.
A 37-year-old United Rentals employee opened fire on three coworkers in the garage area of the Manassas business Wednesday morning, killing two and wounding one before fleeing, police said.
NBC Washington reported that Marvin Grant later shot himself on southbound Interstate 81 in Augusta County after a roughly one-hour standoff with Virginia State Police. No troopers fired their weapons.
The attack hit at 9415 Wellington Road. Many other employees were present when the shooting started. The three victims, all men, were rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition. Two died of their injuries. One survived.
Manassas City Police Chief Douglas said Grant went to work that morning and told a coworker that three people were going to die that day.
After the shooting, officers launched a statewide search for Grant. They blocked access to Wellington Road and the Route 28 Bypass and told the public to avoid the area and stay indoors.
Students from Jennie Dean Elementary School were redirected to Metz Middle School while police worked the scene and hunted for the suspect.
Police speaker Keen described the early investigative picture in plain terms.
"Our working theory is that there was some kind of altercation that led to this,"
Keen said. No confirmed motive has been released beyond that working theory.
Hours later, a Virginia State Police trooper spotted Grant’s car on southbound I-81 in Augusta County. The vehicle pulled into a rest area at the 232-mile marker. Troopers tried to stop him. Grant got out, got back in, and kept driving south.
Troopers started a chase. Grant pulled over at the 227-mile marker and got out with a gun. Negotiators were brought in. The standoff lasted about an hour.
Grant then shot himself. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. State police said no troopers fired their weapons during the encounter.
The sequence left little ambiguity about the day’s toll: two coworkers dead, one hurt, the suspect dead by his own hand, and a Northern Virginia workplace turned into a crime scene while schools diverted children and roads closed.
Authorities have identified the suspect, the business, the shooting location, and the highway end point with mile markers. They have described the warning Grant gave a coworker before the attack. They have not released the victims’ names, the surviving worker’s condition beyond the initial critical status, a final motive, or a full accounting of the weapon beyond describing a gun at the roadside stop.
United Rentals became the center of a rapid police response that stretched from Manassas city streets to a rural stretch of I-81. The public safety steps were direct: roadblocks, stay-indoors orders, a school redirect, a manhunt, a chase, a negotiator, and a standoff that ended without troopers pulling the trigger.
Workplace shootings force the same hard questions every time, who saw the warning signs, how fast police can move, and what protects people who simply showed up for a shift. In Manassas, the warning came first. The gunfire followed. Two men never made it home.
