Will Fairfax County soon rival Florida for the title of our nation’s weirdest place? You might think so after hearing that, yesterday, a man in the county wielding a machete (!) fought a man wielding a chain (!!), all in front of a burning tow truck (!!!).

As first reported by Lorton Patch, police were called to the vehicle fire and unusual-weapons fight in a used car dealership lot on Richmond Highway around 1:20 p.m. Police quickly arrested the guy with the machete, while the fire department put out the tow truck blaze.

“Basically, we received several phone calls today referencing a guy swinging a machete, a tow truck on fire, and a guy swinging a chain,” says Fairfax County Master Police Officer Eddy Azcárate, a spokesman for the county’s police department.

Police determined that the man with the chain was the victim in the exchange, that he only received minor injuries, and that the chain did not come from the tow truck. But answers that might explain why this Mad Max-esque scene took place in one of our nation’s toniest counties were a little harder to come by. Azcárate, pointing out that the crimes had occurred only hours before, declined to explain what events connected the fire and the fight.

“To call them related might be a little strong, but one led to the other,” he said.

What does that mean?

“Are they connected? Yes,” says Azcarate. “Are they related? That might be a little strong.”

Fairfax County!

Machete photo by Shutterstock.