SILVER SPRING, Md. (NEWSnet/AP) — A Maryland police officer who fatally shot a stabbing suspect earlier this year was arrested Thursday on charges that he assaulted police during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.

Montgomery County Police Department said it has suspended Officer Justin Lee without pay and is "taking steps to terminate his employment" after his indictment on felony charges.

The police department said it hired Lee about one year after the Jan. 6 riot and was unaware of his alleged involvement in the attack until July 2023, when it learned he was under FBI investigation.

“The actions of one individual do not define the entire department,” the department said.

Lee, 25, of Rockville, Maryland, had been on administrative leave since he shot and killed a man suspected of stabbing four people on July 22, 2023, according to the police department.

Officers had responded to calls for a stabbing at a thrift store in Silver Spring, Maryland, before they confronted the suspect, who was holding a foot-long butcher’s knife. The suspect ignored officers’ commands to drop the knife and lunged at Lee before the officer shot him, police said.

One of the four stabbing victims was critically injured, police said.

Lee was arrested in Washington, D.C., on the Jan. 6 charges and was expected to make his initial court appearance on Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.

Lee has not been performing a police officer’s duties since the July shooting, the department said.

A federal grand jury indicted Lee on seven counts, including felony charges of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding police. The indictment charges Lee with assaulting a Metropolitan Police Officer.

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