Welcome to Friday’s weekly roundup of our top stories.
With ALXnow, it’s easy to catch up on the latest news in Alexandria. This week, we focused on coverage of our local, state, and federal governments. We also reported a lot of crime, including a homicide in the city’s West End.
A GoFundMe has been launched for Deaundre Jack, the victim of last Saturday’s (April 19) homicide in the West End.
The 19-year-old Jack was shot and killed in the parking lot of 22 Canterbury Square, and his death remains under investigation by the Alexandria Police Department. The fundraiser has so far exceeded its $5,000 goal by raising $5,360 as of 1:30 p.m. Friday (April 25).
A man was shot to death Saturday night (April 19) in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Alexandria’s West End.
The Alexandria Police Department found an adult male with a light pulse and suffering from two gunshot wounds in the parking lot of the Canterbury Square apartment complex near Holmes Run and Duke Street at around 10:15 p.m, according to the police scanner.
After a four-day trial, a jury this week ignored an insanity defense and found an Alexandria man guilty of murdering an acquaintance in the BJ’s Wholesale Club in 2021.
On Wednesday, March 5, Rakibul Fakir, was convicted of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of 29-year-old Abiy Zemene inside the store at 101 S. Van Dorn Street on Sept. 25, 2021.
Three teenagers have charged in the fatal shooting of Alexandria resident Kwakia Frazier and wounding two others, the Alexandria Police Department announced today.
A 16-year-old and two 17-year-old suspects have each been charged with murder by mob and two counts of malicious wounding by mob.
Alexandria’s crime stats for 2024 have been released, and the city’s Part 1 crime rate increased for the third consecutive year.
There was a 7% increase in Part 1 crimes, or crimes against people. Part 1 crimes include homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft. There were 4,733 Part 1 incidents in 2024, an increase of 7.3% over the 4,410 incidents reported in 2023, according to the city’s crime dashboard.
A 29-year-old man was sentenced to 53 years in prison for murdering his roommate by shooting him in the head as he left for work in the West End.
Dontae Lashaun Drumgold was convicted in May of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a murder in the 2022 death of 25-year-old Elijah Williams. On Thursday (Jan. 9), he was sentenced to 60 years for the first degree murder charge, with 10 years suspended, and three years for the use of a firearm charge. After his release he will undergo five years of supervised probation and must exhibit uniform good behavior for 10 years.
An Alexandria resident, 18-year-old Marlyn Medrano-Ortiz, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder for a double homicide in Sterling in August.
According to a release from Loudoun Sheriff Mike Chapman, Medrano-Ortiz is charged with the murder of Mijal Conejero-Romera, a 22-year-old woman from Sterling, and Diego Alexander Woollett, a 22-year-old Arlington resident, on August 28.
The Alexandria Police Department says that the shooting death of a 23-year-old resident Saturday night (Oct. 19) is a homicide, and released the identity of the victim.
Carl Harris was found in a parking lot of an apartment building in the 800 block of Manor Road just before 8 p.m. He was put into an SUV and driven to Inova Alexandria Hospital, but was dead on arrival, according to police dispatches.
Francis Deonte Rose was sentenced today to 58 years in prison for the 2022 shooting deaths of two construction workers in the West End.
A jury found Rose guilty in May of killing Adrian Dejesus Rivera Guzman, 48, and his stepson, 24-year-old Juan Carlos Anaya Hernandez, on the morning of July 16, 2022 in the northern section of the former Assembly Alexandria apartment complex in the 200 block of Century Place.
Kwakai Frazier’s mom says her son had no enemies and was at the wrong place at the wrong time when he was shot and killed last Thursday night (Sept. 19) in Alexandria’s Braddock neighborhood. She also says that police carried her son from the crime scene to an ambulance, and fears that doing so could have led to his death.
In a vigil that lasted more than an hour, a large, silently respectful crowd laid flowers, candles and balloons in the courtyard where the 25-year-old Frazier was shot. Frazier and two others were shot, and Frazier later succumbed to his injuries.
