US Navy officials are looking into an incident caught on video that appears to show a high-ranking Navy official pointing a gun at people during a confrontation in a northern Virginia neighbourhood.
In video obtained by CBS News, a man who appears to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy Karnig Ohannessian stands on a sidewalk in front of a two-story suburban home, arguing with a group of young men, telling them to leave and pointing a gun at them.
Meanwhile, a woman tries to calm him, telling him to get in the house and at one point, pushing his arm down and away from the men.
Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Officer Megan Hawkins said by telephone that officers responded to reports of disorderly conduct and a man brandishing a gun on June 11 in a Burke neighbourhood, but the alleged victims had left by the time they arrived.
Two days later, she says a person made a report at a station and an officer went to the same block to arrest a man, but the magistrate's office declined a warrant. Hawkins would not identify the man since the warrant was declined.
Ohannessian just shook his head when a reporter asked him outside his home today morning whether he had anything to say about the incident.
Ohannessian's biography on the Navy's website states that he is a principal policy adviser to the assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment and the recipient of two Department of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Awards.
In a statement, Rear Adm Dawn Cutler, Navy Chief of Information, said officials are aware of the incident and video. "Mr Ohannessian's supervisor is taking the appropriate action, to include working to understand the full details of what occurred."
Neighbours said that there was a raucous party on the block that night. Timothy Keating, a retired Army officer, said he had to ask the hosts to move a car parked in front of his driveway.
"It wasn't a nice scene for a family neighbourhood," Keating said of the party.
There was no immediate response to a message left at the county commonwealth attorney's office.
Kuchibhotla was killed when 51-year-old US Navy veteran
Adam Purinton opened fire at him and his friend Alok Madasani, yelling, "get out of my country".
Last week, Indian-origin convenience store owner Harnish Patel, 43, of Lancaster in South Carolina was found dead of gun shot wounds in his yard. However, police said in Patel's killing his Indian ethnicity does not appear to be a factor.
In another troubling incident, a Sikh man named Deep Rai working outside his home in Kent, Washington, was shot in the arm by a stranger who allegedly shouted "get out of my country" before pulling the trigger.
The video, where Pushor is stalking and secretly filming unsuspecting families, has been seen as disturbing and has raised more concerns in the community.
Bhavin Bavalia, an American-born IT professional and the son of Indian immigrants, was quoted as saying, "It's very scary for me knowing that I have a lot of family in these small Indian communities."
"To think that there could be some weirdo filming my cousin's kids as they're playing at the park, and possibly fomenting resentment towards them, is just disturbing," he said.
Kaplesh Kapadia, the Indian-born CEO of a California startup called SelfScore, said Pushor's website was the subject of discussion this week in at least five different Whatsapp groups.
"This is spooking people, combined with the Kansas murder," he was quoted as saying.
