Nearly a year after the tragic murders of Mark Winek, 69; Sharie Winek, 65; and Brooke Winek, 38, the family is seeking justice via a lawsuit against the Washington County sheriff's office in Virginia. The murderer, Austin Lee Edwards, 28, subsequently committed suicide during a standoff with law enforcement after he had kidnapped Brooke Winek's 15-year-old daughter, who was later found unscathed.
Filed last week, the family's lawsuit claims the Virginia sheriff's office demonstrated negligence in hiring Austin Lee Edwards, despite a standing court order against him owning a firearm due to his psychological health history. The lawsuit cites damages including a violation of 4th Amendment rights, battery, and negligent hiring, supervision, and retention. The guardian of the 15-year-old's younger sister, Mychelle Blandin lodged the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Central California, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Questioning how a man with a gun ownership right revocation was able managing to secure a position within the sheriff's department, Attorney David Ring, noted this position supplied Edwards with a badge and a firearm. Ring suggested that the resulting tragedy was "entirely predictable" and that Edwards was a risk to the community. The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial restitution for the Winek family, as reported by FOX LA.
Edwards had been employed by the Virginia State Police as a state trooper in January 2022, he resigned in October and was subsequently admitted into the Washington County Sheriff's Office as a deputy in November 2022. According to the lawsuit, authorities did not perform a satisfactory background check before hiring him. In 2016, Edwards was taken in for a psychiatric assessment and sent to a treatment facility after he threatened to kill his father. As per Virginia law, this action should have barred him from owning a firearm, as per FOX LA reports.
Edwards used his position in law enforcement, identifying himself as an officer and showcasing his badge, to gain entrance into her parents' home, Mychelle Blandin told ABC 7. The family, desperate for answers following the shock of the catastrophic events, is seeking accountability and an exhaustive examination of the hiring processes within law enforcement agencies.
Alison Saros, an attorney representing Blandin, underscored the need to hold law enforcement agencies and their hiring procedures to the highest standards, as the Los Angeles Times reports. These individuals, burdened with the duty of protecting the public, should be thoroughly examined to prevent such grave outcomes from recurring. The sheriff's office's failure to adhere to best practices has resulted in the irreversible loss of innocent lives and trauma to the surviving victim.
As of yet, the Washington County Sheriff's office has refrained from offering any comment on the pending matter.
