Police: Arlandria juvenile was shot on roof of apartment building over marijuana argument

An argument over marijuana was behind the Oct. 10 shooting of a juvenile on the roof of an Arlandria apartment building, according to court records.

A 17-year-old Alexandria male was arrested five days later, transported to the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center and charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a juvenile. The suspect is a student at Alexandria City High School, according to the affidavit.

The victim, who does not live in the building, told police that he was hanging out with three other people and was invited to come smoke marijuana on the roof of the 14-story apartment building, according to a search warrant.

The group was using a vape pen to smoke concentrated THC, and the victim then allegedly took the vape pen and refused to give it back. He told police that the suspect then allegedly brandished a small black handgun and began chasing the suspect around the roof.

“[The victim] made it to the roof access door for the stairwell, where [the victim] attempted to secure the door with [the victim’s] body,” the police said in the warrant. “[The suspect] was able to push the door open just enough to fit his arm inside and fired one round from the firearm, which struck [the victim] in the left arm and left side.”

The victim then told police that everyone, including the suspect, fled from the roof, past the victim and down the stairwell. The victim went from the stairwell to the 14th-floor hallway of the apartment building and cried out that he was shot until residents heard him and called police, according to the affidavit. The victim was transported to George Washington University Hospital and released the same day.

On the day he was arrested, the suspect was found with several males and a female in the boiler room of an apartment building in the same block where he lives with his parents. Police found a handgun on the suspect with an “obliterated” serial number. Later, when police interviewed the suspect’s mother in their apartment, the investigating officer observed two magazines for firearms on a television stand, and that one of them was an extended magazine loaded with ammunition.

The suspect told police that he was in Maryland at the time of the incident, that he heard about the shooting on Twitter and denied any involvement. His story quickly changed, however, when police explained information learned during the investigation.

“[The suspect] stated he was with three to four other friends when they went to the roof of the building to smoke marijuana,” police said in the affidavit. “He stated he brought his firearm with him and his friends were playing with it. He stated when the firearm was given back to him, he went to put it away when the firearm discharged.”

The suspect then told police that he heard through a mutual friend that the victim was shot, and that he told the mutual friend to tell the victim that the shooting was an accident.