A woman was assaulted while walking home in the Presidential Greens Apartment complex in Arlandria on Sunday night, October 11.
The victim was walking home when she was approached by a man who tried to grab her, but she got away and called her cousin on the phone and ran to a nearby business where he works on Mount Vernon Avenue. She was transported to the hospital and was released without injuries, according to her cousin.
It’s the end of a busy week in Alexandria.
Once again, crime and public safety stories were the most read on ALXnow.
The 19-year-old man arrested for the September 30 West End murder of John Harding Pope was released on bond just eight days before Pope was killed.
Tavon Marquis Lanier was arrested Sept. 22 for allegedly breaking into his girlfriend’s apartment, stalking and threatening her and was released on bond by the magistrate’s office.
A 20-year-old Alexandria man is in custody after allegedly selling illegal drugs to hundreds of people over the course of the pandemic.
The man was arrested at his apartment in the 6100 block of Edsdall Road in August and charged with possession with the intent to distribute marijuana, possession with the intent to distribute a Schedule IV substance, manufacturing or selling a controlled substance and reckless handling of a firearm. He is currently being held without bond in the Alexandria jail.
A 21-year-old Delaware woman was charged with three counts of felonious hit-and-run and one count of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs after allegedly hitting three cars in Old Town.
Niyah Selena Ranson was arrested by Alexandria Police on Sept. 24 at around 6:45 p.m., and is being held without bond in the Alexandria jail.
Alexandria has seen an 18% overall surge in crimes against people and property so far this year, according to Part I crime statistics recently released by Alexandria Police.
There has also been a 47% increase in car thefts, a 19% rise in thefts overall and a 15% rise in felonious assaults.
Alexandria has seen a spike in the number of shots fired calls over the last two months, and police are asking the public for help.
“While there is no acceptable level of gun crime, we are especially concerned about recent incidents in which conflicts between people have escalated to the use of firearms,” Police Chief Michael L. Brown said in a statement. “As we continue to make progress in these cases, we ask for the public’s help in providing any available information.”
Alexandria was dominated by violent crime events this week.
The second murder of 2020 occurred on Sept. 30, and ALXnow identified the victim as 57-year-old John Harding Pope. Mayor Justin Wilson and members of the City Council offered their condolences and said that justice will be served.
William Olson says that his nine-year-old autistic son was improperly interrogated by an Alexandria Police officer last year.
On Thursday, Olson and a number of students, parents, and representative from the Alexandria NAACP, Tenants and Workers United, and Grassroots Alexandria told the School Board at a public hearing that it should not renew its bi-annual memorandum of understanding with the Alexandria Police Department to provide school resource officers at city schools.
ALXnow has identified the victim from Wednesday’s murder in the West End as John Harding Pope.
Pope, 57, was shot at his home in the 5900 block of Quantrell Avenue in the Mayflower Square apartment complex. He later died at the hospital.
In response to the city’s second murder, Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson said the city must redouble its efforts to “get these dangerous criminals and their weapons off our streets.”
“I am saddened to hear that another Alexandria neighborhood has experienced this horrific violence,” Wilson told ALXnow. “I know that our Police Department is working around the clock to bring the perpetrator of this homicide to justice and I have every confidence they will be successful. I keep the victim and his family in my thoughts during this extraordinarily difficult time.”
