(Updated 9:35 a.m.) After being unable to find a handgun or shell casing, the Alexandria Police Department (APD) is investigating the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy in a West End apartment building as “suspicious.”
The shooting occurred in an apartment in the 300 block of S. Whiting Street at around 10:45 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 29), according to APD. The call to police was made by a person who said that the victim shot himself, but APD could not find a firearm or shell casing at the scene, according to scanner traffic.
“This may or may not be self-inflicted,” an investigating APD officer said via dispatch.
According to APD:
The Alexandria Police Department is seeking assistance from the public regarding an active investigation of a suspicious death that occurred in the 300 block of South Whiting Street. On October 28, 2023, at approximately 11:47 PM, the Alexandria Police Department responded to a call regarding a possible shooting. Officers discovered a 15-year-old male inside the residence who sustained a gunshot wound. The victim was transported to an area hospital where he unfortunately succumbed to his injury. APD is now investigating this shooting incident as a suspicious death.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy and determine the cause and manner of death.
There have been six confirmed homicides so far this year in Alexandria.
Anyone with information on the incident can contact APD Detective J. Marable at 703-746-6883, or call the APD non-emergency number. Callers can remain anonymous.
Image via Google Maps
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.
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.
Alexandria City Public Schools saw a 26% increase in student arrests last school year, and a disproportionate number of arrested students are Black males.
There were 58 ACPS students arrested last school year, according to a school safety report to be presented to the School Board on Thursday. There were also 32 weapons-related incidents, 100 students injured, 112 fights/assaults and five reports of sexual misconduct.
The news follows an ACPS report revealing that most of Alexandria’s middle and high school students feel unsafe.
There were 451 incidents requiring a police response within Alexandria City Public Schools in the 2022-2023 school year — 188 incidents in the first two quarters of the year and 263 incidents in the final two quarters. That’s a 17% increase over the 385 incidents in the 2021-2022 school year.
While 25% of ACPS students are Black, most of those arrested are Black males.
Middle School Arrests (27)
- Black male — 14
- Hispanic male — 4
- Black female — 4
- Hispanic female — 3
- White male — 2
High School Arrests (31)
- Black male — 18
- Hispanic male — 6
- Black female — 4
- White male — 3
- Hispanic female — 2
Weapons seized include a handgun, two BB guns, stun guns, tasers, knives, pepper spray and a box cutter.
ACPS made a number of safety improvements in the 2022-2023 school year, like new ID requirements for students, designating entrances and exits at schools, installing metal detectors, and renewing its partnership with the police department to provide school resource officers.
Incidents in the 2022-2023 school year include:
- 112 fights
- 116 incidents characterized as “other” (parking lot accidents, trespassing, mental health episodes, property lost/damaged)
- 100 injuries requiring medical assistance
- 32 confiscated weapons
- 21 reports of controlled substances recovered
- 19 threats (verbal/cyber/social media)
- 16 missing student reports
- Seven reports of suspicious activity
- Five alarms pulled
- Five reports of sexual misconduct
- Three thefts
- One report of possessing prohibited materials
There were 175 incidents reported at the Alexandria City High School campuses, 183 incidents at the city’s two middle schools, 43 incidents at K-8 schools and 50 incidents at elementary schools.
The Alexandria Police Department says it is investigating multiple weapons violations over the weekend, including a man who was shot in the shoulder in a suspected carjacking in the West End.
The first incident occurred on Saturday, Sept. 17, around midnight in the 2000 block of N. Beauregard Street. The victim reported to police that her Airbnb guest pulled a handgun on her and fled the area in a black Kia Forte, according to the police scanner.
The suspect was later arrested on I-395 south near the exit for Edsall Road, according to the police scanner. The suspect reportedly provided police with a fake identification, and three handguns were found in the vehicle, according to the police scanner.
The second incident occurred on Saturday around 10:15 p.m. in the 300 block of S. Reynolds Street in the Landmark area. A man was shot in the shoulder and reported to police that he was the victim of an attempted carjacking.
The third incident occurred in the 12oo block of Quaker Hill Drive. Four gunshots were reported by multiple callers to police, although no suspects were seen and no arrests were made, according to the police scanner.
Anyone with information on these incidents can call the APD non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
Two male juveniles were arrested after an armed robbery on the bike trail between the King St. and Braddock Road Metro stations on Saturday night.
No one was injured in the incident at Metro Linear Park, which occurred at around 11 p.m., according to dispatch reports.
A male victim was allegedly robbed by two juvenile suspects wearing dark hoodies. One of the suspects allegedly brandished a handgun. The suspects fled the scene on foot, split up and were later tracked down by police and positively identified by the victim and witnesses.
One of suspects was arrested near the intersection of Wythe and N. West Streets and the other was arrested the 400 block of Cook Street, which is nearly a mile from where the incident occurred.
Anyone with information on this incident can call the APD non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
Map via Google Maps
A 22-year-old Maryland man has been charged with the murders of an Alexandria man in 2022 and a Bristow man in 2021, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
On July 10, police arrested Corde Fitzhugh-Clingman, of Hyattsville, and charged him with two counts of first degree murder while armed for the 2022 death of 26-year-old Zekariya Elmi, of Alexandria, and the 2021 death of 24 year-old Muntsier Sharfi, of Bristow.
MPD offered $25,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in both cases. After his arrest, no information on how Fitzhugh-Clingman allegedly committed the incidents was released by police. Court documents related to his case in D.C. Courts are sealed and no court date has been set.
Elmi was shot in the 5000 block of South Dakota Avenue, Northeast, at around 11:30 p.m. on Monday, April 25, 2022. He reportedly crashed his car into a utility pole after the incident and he later died at the hospital.
Sarfi, a football player and 2020 graduate of the University of Virginia College at Wise, was found shot to death at around 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, 2021, in an overturned vehicle in the 3300 block of Southern Avenue, Southeast. Police found that he was shot a block away in the 3300 block of Eerie Street, Southeast.
update: Michigan Park shooting— Man was driving an auto that crashed into a utility pole after he had been shot. He was still alert and talking when taken to a trauma center. https://t.co/Edap0WgyVB pic.twitter.com/xiJfXZ626L
— Alan Henney (@alanhenney) April 26, 2022
Alexandria Police are investigating an armed carjacking that occurred early this morning in the West End.
The male victim was robbed at gunpoint of his black 2017 Mercedes-Benz AMG at around 4:30 a.m. outside the 24-hour gym X-Sport Fitness at 4300 King Street. The area is near the intersection with Park Center Drive.
No injuries were reported and no arrests were made.
The victim told police that he was carjacked by three men in a silver two-door Infiniti. After the incident, the victim tracked the vehicle with GPS to the Navy Yard area in D.C. and then to Prince George’s County in Maryland, according to APD scanner traffic.
Anyone with information on this incident can call the APD non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
Image via Google Maps
Notification:: In response to an armed carjacking, there is a moderate police presence in the 4300 block of King Street. No injuries were reported. APD is on the scene and investigating. pic.twitter.com/CUFam3zZBL
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) July 6, 2023
(Updated 4:20 p.m.) The two teens who allegedly shot each other on May 31 in the Seminary Valley neighborhood got into a fight earlier that day at Alexandria City High School, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
The teens allegedly shot each other at around 8:15 p.m. in a residential area near Interstate 395 and N. Van Dorn Street. The Alexandria Police Department received multiple calls reporting 15-20 gunshots in a residential area in the 5400 block of Richenbacher Avenue.
The teens, ages 16 and 17 were both shot in the lower body and were transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. No charges have been filed against either teen and the incident remains under investigation, according to police.
An Instagram story was posted about an hour after the incident by an Alexandria City High School student described as “an involved party” in the search warrant affidavit.
One of the injured juveniles was captured on camera carrying a weapon and the other was arrested with a plastic bag with four firearm magazines, according to the search warrant affidavit.
“The Instagram story stated ‘dat glick jammed up only reason he livin,'” police said in the search warrant affidavit. “An Alexandria City High School student was identified as being the subject involved in an altercation with (the victim) at school the day of the shooting.”
One of the students who was shot is suspected for being involved in a shooting at the Bradlee Shopping Center on April 17, according to the search warrant affidavit.
Anyone with information on this incident can call the APD non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
Notification:: In response to a shooting there is a heavy police presence in the 5400 block of Richenbacher Avenue. Two people suffered non-life-threatening injuries. APD is on the scene and investigating. pic.twitter.com/g1x5yVSDeA
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) June 1, 2023
Armed robbers made off with an undisclosed amount of cash last night after holding up Rocklands Barbecue & Grilling Company (25 S. Quaker Lane).
Two men with guns took “everything from the safe,” according to dispatches from the Alexandria Police Department. The suspects fled the area in a vehicle that drove east toward the King St-Old Town Metro station.
No injuries were reported, no arrests have been made, and the incident is under investigation.
The restaurant, which closed after the incident, is located around the corner from APD headquarters (3600 Wheeler Avenue) and the Alexandria Commons Shopping Center.
Anyone with information on this incident can call the police non-emergency number at 703-746-4444. Callers can remain anonymous.
Notification:: In response to a commercial robbery, there is a moderate police presence in the unit block of South Quaker Lane. No injuries were reported in connection with this incident. APD is on scene and investigating. pic.twitter.com/6wvbSTrSUe
— Alexandria Police (@AlexandriaVAPD) June 1, 2023
Map via Google Maps
