What a week full of news in Alexandria.
With city offices closed due to Veterans Day on Wednesday, there were still a number of big stories.
shooting
Alexandria Man Shot to Death in Georgetown — “Officers from the Second District responded around 2:56 a.m., to the 3300 block of Water St., N.W., for the sound of gunshots. They found Franklin Hernandez Arevalo, 19, of Alexandria, Virginia suffering from a gunshot wound. D.C. Fire and EMS determined Arevalo had died and transported him later to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.” [Patch]
Beyer Says Trump Trying to Steal Election — “This is simple: Donald Trump is openly trying to steal an election he lost. He will not succeed, but we will remember who went along with it. ‘I was just following orders’ will not be accepted as an excuse for attempting to overthrow the results of an American election.” [Twitter]
What an intense week in Alexandria.
Our top story was on the massive power outages that affected tens of thousands of residents on Friday, October 23. Without providing specifics, Dominion Energy told City Council this week that outages in Alexandria and Arlington were “unique,” and caused by a piece of equipment that failed at its Glebe Road substation. City Councilors responded that there have been at least eight outages since May.
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Virginia State Police have identified the 27-year-old suspect who died in a shootout with Alexandria police in Old Town North on Monday, October 26.
Michael K. Nelson of Fairfax County was found dead with a stolen firearm near the intersection of Montgomery Street and North Fairfax Street, according to Virginia State Police. His alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Mitchell Thompson, later turned himself in and was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Virginia State Police say Mitchell D. Thompson, a 26-year-old Alexandria resident, turned himself in.
“He is in police custody and being processed on the felony warrant for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,” said VSP spokeswoman Corinne Geller. “Additional charges are pending, as the investigation remains ongoing at this time.”
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(Updated at 11:10 p.m.) At least three Alexandria Police officers are on routine administrative leave after a shootout that left one suspect dead near the intersection of N. Fairfax and Montgomery Streets.
At 5 a.m., police responded to a call for shots fired inside the Holiday Inn & Suites (625 First Street) in north Old Town, according to police spokesman Lt. Courtney Ballantine. Once at the scene, police were told by witnesses that a robbery occurred in the lobby of the hotel and that multiple shots were fired.
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.”
A Del Ray man was shot in a home invasion early on Sunday morning, September 27.
“This was a targeted offense,” Alexandria Police spokesman Lt. Courtney Ballantine told ALXnow. “The victim was an adult male who was shot by the person who forced entry into his residence.”
It’s the end of a busy week in Alexandria.
This week, our top story was City Council’s decision to extend the state of emergency in the city until March 31, 2021. That means that by the spring the city will have been under a state of emergency for more than a year.
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A 33-year-old man was struck by a bullet as he was driving in the 4600 block of W. Braddock Road early on Sunday evening.
The shooting occurred at around 5 p.m., and the victim was shot by a suspect in a vehicle driving in the same direction, according to police.
A male juvenile is in custody after allegedly firing a gun in Arlandria just after midnight on Saturday morning.
The suspect was arrested near the Four Mile Run Bridge after four shots were fired just outside the Park View apartment building at 511 Four Mile Road. ALXnow saw the suspect run from the scene after the shots were fired, and then his arrest.