Crime & Safety

Rackowski Family Picking up Pieces After Standoff

Before Monday, there was no criminal record for James Rackowski.

Until Monday, Hillwood Avenue was a quiet block in the City of Falls Church where nothing outside the occasional traffic stop happened.

The boarded up windows at 603 Hillwood Ave. are proof that a between police and an armed man did happen. Thursday, workers ventilated the home to rid the dwelling of the stench of pepper spray that was launched into the house to force James Rackowski out.

As men dressed in white protective suits and gas masks walked in and out of the house with large fans, a man who only identified himself as the older brother of Rackowski said he is not sure if his brother is still at . The man said his father is struggling with all that happened starting around 4 p.m. Monday.

Find out what's happening in Falls Churchwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Physically he’s OK,” the man said about his dad, Henry Rackowski. “It’s a trying situation.”

James Rackowski, 57, barricaded himself inside his family’s home until around 9 p.m. Tuesday ending a more than 28-hour ordeal with multiple police agencies. Police finally used a Taser on the man when he came from downstairs and took him into custody. The gasoline soaked man was then whisked away to the hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries. Susan Finarelli, spokeswoman for the City of Falls Church, said James Rackowski was charged with discharging a firearm within a building.

Find out what's happening in Falls Churchwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the obituary of Helen Rackowski, James’ mother who died in February of this year, he had been living in Corpus Christi, Texas.

A search of the Texas Department of Public Safety website turned up no criminal history for James Rackowski. A spokeswoman for the Corpus Christi Police Department said the only activity for James Rackowski there was in 2004 and he was the victim in the case. She did not give specifics.

A request for a criminal history in Virginia was not immediately responded to.

Standing outside the home his family moved into more than 40-years ago, the alleged brother of James Rackowski said his brother graduated from in the early 1970s and then attended Northern Virginia Community College for two years. He said his brother then went to Virginia Commonwealth University but dropped out after a semester.

The man said his brother eventually graduated from George Mason University, but wasn’t sure exactly when. The man didn’t discuss what his brother had been doing after graduating college.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.