By Tom Jackman and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 7, 2000; 12:30 PM

A 55-year-old Burke man was shot to death this morning by a Fairfax County police officer, who said he and a partner were trying to quell a heated argument between the man and his wife.

Police identified the man as Ji Young Yoo of 5223 Stonington Drive in the Kings Park West development of Burke, a few blocks southwest of Laurel Ridge Elementary School.

Two officers from the West Springfield police station arrived at the house about 6:20 a.m. to investigate a report of a domestic disturbance, according to Lt. Amy Lubas, a Fairfax Police spokeswoman. Lubas said the officers tried to calm the man but that he "redirected his aggression toward the officers."

The officers fired pepper spray at Yoo in an unsuccessful attempt to subdue him, Lubas said. The Associated Press reported that Yoo was shot in the chest by one of the officers.

Police declined to say whether the man was armed.

Yoo was airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital and died a few hours later, police said.

Yoo's wife, who was not identified by police, was taken from the crime scene; police would not say whether she was injured. County records list the property's owners as Yoo and "S. Chun," who jointly purchased the nine-room house in 1986 for $120,000.

The shooting happened just inside the front door of the yellow-and-brick split-level home in the quiet neighborhood about two miles from George Mason University. Police said they had no indication that anyone else was in the house at the time.

The incident marks the second fatal shooting in Fairfax by police officers within the last week. On Friday, a Prince George's County police detective trailed a man from Maryland into Fairfax before shooting him. That incident is under investigation by local and federal authorities.