A 31-year-old Alexandria man is out on bond after being charged with allegedly brandishing a firearm and impersonating a police officer in the parking garage of his West End apartment complex. A search of the suspect’s vehicle yielded a firearm, stun gun, handcuffs, zip ties and a Geek Squad badge.
The incident occurred at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 8, in the 2800 block of Park Center Drive. Two tow truck employees were in the parking garage, when they saw a white BMW drive out of the garage and made eye contact with the driver, police said in a recently released search warrant affidavit.
Moments later, the tow truck employees separated and one of them was allegedly approached by a man dressed in all-black wearing a face mask and a duty belt “like police” and that he “told the victim to place his hands behind his back, and asked what he was doing there,” police said in the search warrant affidavit.
“(The victim) said the subject drew his gun and dropped it, then picked it up and racked the slide,” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “(The victim) said he was scared for his life but took out his phone to start recording the encounter.”
The second tow truck employee heard the commotion and walked over to see the suspect allegedly try to take his coworker’s phone out of his hands before giving up and running away, police said in the search warrant affidavit.
Police believe the suspect to be the driver of the white BMW who left the garage moments before the incident. The BMW was found parked a block away from the scene, and the description of the suspect matches the video taken by the victim, police said in the search warrant affidavit. The vehicle was commandeered and transported to police headquarters.
Police searched the suspect’s white BMW and found a Star 9mm handgun in the driver’s door panel and next to it a silver badge that displayed the suspect’s name and the words “Precinct Agent” and badge number of 96482, police said in the search warrant affidavit.
“The badge contained a ‘shroud,’ which covers up a portion of the badge,” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “The shroud contains a ‘thin blue line’ image which law enforcement display at times to honor fallen officers. (The investigating APD officer) removed the shroud to discover the logo for “Geek Squad” behind it.”
The affidavit continued, “Of note, the Geek Squad logo was completely covered up by the shroud.”
Additionally, police said that suspect used his key fob to gain entry to his apartment building from the garage three minutes after the 911 call was made. Inside the vehicle police also found a stun gun, a radio transmitter, two sets of black zip ties, black handcuffs, black tactical gloves and a black hat, according to the search warrant affidavit.
On Sept. 18, the suspect responded to police headquarters to inquire about his seized vehicle, police said in the search warrant affidavit. He was arrested on Sept. 21, and released that same day on a $3,500 unsecured bond. He goes to court on Dec. 20.