A robbery was reported at the Tobacco Hut (3500 Mount Vernon Avenue) in Arlandria.
Robbers in black puffy jackets and ski masks reportedly took around $400 from the store and implied that they had weapons, according to the police scanner.
Scanner traffic indicated the suspects left the scene in a car.
The 3500 block of Mount Vernon Avenue has seen multiple robberies in the last year, though those robberies generally favor the more lucrative Wells Fargo bank next door.
James Cullum and Vernon Miles contributed to this story
The Alexandria Police Department is investigating a stabbing that allegedly occurred in Arlandria on Sunday night.
APD was initially dispatched at 10:45 p.m. to the 4000 block of Mount Vernon Avenue for a report of a motor vehicle crash. The incident was recategorized as a stabbing, and police interviewed a man who was allegedly stabbed while riding his bicycle, according to the police scanner. The victim was interviewed by police at the scene.
The 4000 block of Mount Vernon Avenue was briefly swarmed by police cruisers and an ambulance, as well as a K-9 officer.
ALXnow has reached out to APD for details on this incident.
Anyone with details on this incident can contact the APD non-emergency line at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
(Updated 12:17 p.m.) A man reported that he was stabbed in the leg in Arlandria early this morning, but reportedly refused medical attention after calling 911, according to the police scanner.
The victim called 911 at around 1:45 a.m. and told a dispatcher that he was stabbed in the leg in the 3900 block of Old Dominion Boulevard, near the intersection with Four Mile Road.
The victim waited for first responders outside an apartment complex, but did not cooperate with police by providing a suspect description. He also refused medical treatment, according to the scanner.
Anyone with information on the incident can call the Alexandria Police Department non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
A 34-year-old Arlington man is being held without bond after allegedly robbing his girlfriend’s ex of his clothes and other items at gunpoint.
The suspect was arrested for armed robbery on Sept. 14, nearly two months after the July 18 incident.
The victim reported to police that, on July 17, he had a phone argument with his child’s mother and her boyfriend. The following day, while sitting outside in front of the Popeyes at 3402 Mount Vernon Avenue, the victim observed the suspect and an unknown driver pull up in a white Kia Optima, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
The victim told police that he approached the suspect on foot after the suspect got out of the vehicle and approached him.
The victim said that the suspect then stepped back, took a handgun from his waistband and pointed it at him. The victim reported that the suspect stole his clothes and other items, and that the suspect then posted a video on Instagram of the victim sitting on a crate, according to the search warrant affidavit.
Police took the suspect’s iPhone into possession and described the video in the affidavit.
The suspect goes to court on Oct. 5.
The city’s Sexual Assault Center and Domestic Violence Program is open, and hotlines are available 24/7 at 703-684-7273 [Sexual Assault Hotline] or 703-746-4911 [Domestic Violence Hotline]. Online support is also available with The National Sexual Assault Online Hotline.
Ideally, the Four Mile Run Park Trail would connect the two sides of the Arlandria park. Since 2021 the bridge at the center of that trail has been shut down, but work is starting this month to change that.
An inspection in summer 2021 found a hole in the bridge and the city determined the bridge was not suitable for use. The bridge was closed in August 2021. A daytime detour runs just north of the bridge along the Four Mile Run Wetland Trail. The nighttime detour runs down to Reed Avenue
The City of Alexandria is starting work this month on a replacement bridge. Construction is scheduled to run until July 2024.
The city is also hosting an open house tonight (Wednesday) at the Leonard “Chick” Armstrong Recreation Center (25 W. Reed Avenue) from 7-8 p.m. to share more information about the bridge replacement project.
#ICYMI: Starting this month, construction work will begin on the Four Mile Park Trail bridge that connects Commonwealth Avenue to the main park.
Learn more at a community meeting this Wednesday, 7 p.m., at Leonard “Chick” Armstrong Rec. Center: https://t.co/mwDkA0dnmq pic.twitter.com/HgGefvvsvy
— AlexandriaVAGov (@AlexandriaVAGov) September 18, 2023
A 14-year-old boy on an electric bike suffered non-life threatening injuries after a crash involving a car in Arlandria on Wednesday night, according to scanner traffic.
The crash occurred at around 7:30 p.m. in a parking lot in the 4100 block of Mount Vernon Avenue. The teen was transported to a hospital in an ambulance.
The driver of the vehicle was pulling out of the parking lot and was about to turn onto Mount Vernon Avenue when the crash occurred, though ALXnow could not independently verify which vehicle struck the other.
The driver stayed at the scene and was not charged.
“I was just pulling out of the parking lot and this kid came flying down Mount Vernon Avenue on his bike and bam, hit the car,” the driver told ALXnow. “I stayed here. I had to help the kid.”
Alexandria and Arlington have been building bridges and celebrating outside the Arlandria Pizza Hut.
Leaders from both the Arlington County Board and the Alexandria City Council are scheduled to meet tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Arlandria Pizza Hut (1049 W Glebe Road) to celebrate the West Glebe Road Bridge ribbon cutting.
The ribbon cutting is scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m.
Several of the bridges between Alexandria and Arlington were in a rough state.
The West Glebe Road Bridge started undergoing repairs on the superstructure in May 2022. The bridge partially reopened to vehicle traffic earlier this year and all lanes reopened in July with work continuing on the bridge’s underside.
Residents of an Arlandria affordable apartment complex say the new owner is drastically, and illegally, raising rent and not notifying tenants within 60 days.
Potomac West Apartments LLC bought the four-building, 60-unit apartment complex in June. Last month, residents with expiring leases were notified via letter of a rent increase.
“We just wanted to say thank you for being a wonderful resident of Potomac West Apartments,” begins an Aug. 1 letter to a resident. “We are planning on upgrading the property to include new washing and drying machines, renovated laundry rooms, landscaping upgrades and much more.”
The property manager then reminded residents in the letter that they must provide a 60-day notice if they are going to vacate.
Residents protested the action on Tuesday afternoon with a rally organized by Tenants and Workers United (TWU). The property is directly across the street from Housing Alexandria’s massive affordable apartment complex development at the corner of Mount Vernon Avenue and Glebe Road.
Jose Coca saw his rent increase by more than $500. The 85-year-old custodian at the Pentagon has lived on the property for more than 30 years and said that no improvements have been made to the property.
“When we go to the leasing office about a maintenance issue, they don’t pay attention to us,” Coca said.
Medical assistant Soraida Cruz has lived in her two-bedroom apartment for 18 years. She said her rent is being increased from $1,498 to $1,725 per month, and that Potomac West Apartments and property manager Chapman Management are not responsive.
“It hurts,” Cruz said. “It really does. I’m the only one working. If we had better conditions, paying less than what they are raising right now, I would continue living here, but it’s tough.”
Cruz also said that the buildings have rodent and maintenance issues that residents pay out of pocket to fix.
Larisa Zehr, an attorney from Legal Aid Justice Center, said that the new apartment building owners are breaking the law by not giving tenants at least 60 days notice of a rent increase.
“This makes common sense and it’s a basic protection for tenants,” Zehr said. “That did not happen here. As this area sees increased economic interest, we’re seeing this pattern developers are hiking rents and driving out long term stable families. This is purely profit-driven. We see rents increase without any improvement to living conditions.”
Zehr continued, “Potomac West Apartments is intended to be long-term affordable housing, which is subsidized by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. That means the owner has to cap rent at 60% of area median income. In Northern Virginia, as low income people are pushed out and displaced by wealthier households, that number keeps going up. The cap is not low enough to protect working class families like the families in this neighborhood.”
TWU mailed two letters to the property manager and owners asking for a sit-down to discuss rent increases and tenant needs. They did not receive a response.
“I know it’s not easy to be here after you work two jobs, after you cook for your family,” TWU Executive Director Evelyn Urritria told the protestors. “You are here because you care about your housing situation. It’s unfair what’s happening, it’s unjust what’s happening.”
Potomac West Apartments LLC and Chapman Management did not return calls for comment.
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) announced tonight that they’ve made an arrest for the fatal shooting in Arlandria in July.
APD said 26-year old Rae’Qwan McClinnahan, a non-city resident, has been charged with second degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a murder.
On July 24, 29-year-old father of two Eric Holmes Jr. was fatally shot on the 800 block of W. Glebe Road.
McClinnahan is currently being held without bond, according to APD.
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) is asking for help from the public in locating the suspects behind last Saturday night shooting in Old Town.
Police said that two men were shot when motorcycle and dirt bike riders who previously rolled through Arlington gathered at around 8:15 p.m at the Speedway and Liberty stations on S. Patrick Street (Route 1) near Franklin Street.
“Victim #1, a 30-year-old male, was located near the National Harbor and transported to a local hospital with a gunshot wound and is non-life threatening,” APD said in a release. “Victim #2, a 30-year-old male, was identified at a local hospital with a gunshot wound and is non-life threatening.”
No arrests have been made from this incident or from another Saturday shooting that left a man with life-threatening injuries in Arlandria. The Old Town and Arlandria incidents were not related, police said this week.
As with previous violent incidents, APD is asking the public for help. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact APD Detective B. Smith at 703-746-6159. Video, audio, or digital images relating to the shooting can also be uploaded anonymously.
