Alexandria will likely be getting an influx of funding from a statewide opioids settlement, but how much and where exactly that funding will be going remains to be determined.
The City Council met last night for a special session — interrupting the brief summer break due to the need to have a decision the city should join the Virginia Opioid Abatement Fund and Settlement Allocation Memorandum.
More details have been released on the murder of a 23-year-old man in the West End last year, and the criminal organization the suspect was involved with that was brought down by the Alexandria Police Department.
The victim, Yousef Omar, was found shot multiple times on Saturday, November 7, 2020. He was in the driver’s seat of a 2016 silver Mercedes E350, and a firearm was found near his body, as well as numerous shell casings, indicating that he may have fired at his attacker.
Alexandria Police are investigating a claim that a woman’s drink was drugged at Vola’s Dockside Grill and Hi-Tide Lounge on the waterfront.
The woman filed a police report after the incident, which allegedly occurred on the evening of July 9 — the same night as the fireworks for the city’s birthday celebration. The woman reported the incident on NextDoor, and said she was sitting in the walkthrough area next to the Torpedo Factory Art Center when it occurred.
After a break last year, National Night Out is returning on Tuesday, August 3.
The annual community-building campaign brings the Alexandria Police Department, Fire Department, Sheriff’s Office and other City agencies into communities for cookouts as part of a nationwide crime and drug prevention effort.
Alexandria Police are actively investigating a harrowing incident that occurred earlier this month in a room at the Days Inn/Super 8 hotel at 110 S. Bragg Street in the West End.
On May 8, police responded to a report of a sexual offense against a woman in room 381. Once at the scene, police found a large blood trail outside the hotel room that continued along the third floor.
A 34-year-old Arlington man was charged with distributing methamphetamine after reporting to police that he was the victim of an armed robbery in his fifth floor room at the Embassy Suites in Old Town.
On March 24, at around 7:15 a.m., Alexandria Police responded to a 911 call and met the suspect in the lobby. He told police that he’d just been robbed of money by a man with a knife in his room. He also said that a backpack belonging to a friend of his was stolen.
What an eventful week in Alexandria.
Thursday, March 11, marked the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic in Alexandria. As the vaccine rollout slowly improves, the most recent news is the allowance of restaurant workers to get the vaccine. Just over 38,000 doses have been administered in the city, and of that 14,661 residents have been fully vaccinated. The city also wants 80% of residents vaccinated by July 31.
Alexandria Police arrested seven people and seized $158,000 in cash, guns and drugs last week, as part of an ongoing investigation that resulted in eight search warrants being executed in the region.
Police would not reveal the identities of the suspects arrested or any further details, and only listed what was seized in a Friday press release. Seized items included:
Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, will be isolated from the general population for a month in the Alexandria jail, in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions.
The Alexandria Sheriff’s Office has a contract with the U.S. Marshals to house inmates in the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center, and other details of Coronel’s stay have not been released, such as whether she will be secluded from other inmates after the month.
After 16 months in operation, the Alexandria Drug Treatment Court has its first graduate. The program, which the Alexandria Commonwealth Attorney’s Office started with little funding, also just got a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.
The Treatment Court launched in September 2019 as an alternative to jail for individuals with substance abuse issues. Most participants have been to jail multiple times. Participants usually meets every Thursday in the Alexandria Courthouse, although the building at 520 King Street is largely shut down now due to COVID-19 and meetings have been held virtually.
The City of Alexandria is urging locals to become acquainted with overdose treatment as cases rise both statewide and locally.
“The Virginia Department of Health’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reports that 2020 may be the worst year on record for fatal overdoses in Virginia,” the city said in a press release. “Preliminary figures from the second quarter of 2020 indicate a 66.8% increase in fatal drug overdoses in Virginia from the same period in 2019, suggesting a possible correlation with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
