Author: Jared Serre

Jared Serre covers local business, public safety and breaking news across Local News Now's websites. Originally from Northeast Ohio, he is a graduate of West Virginia University. He previously worked with Law360 before joining LNN in May 2024.

Around Town

Yemeni coffee brand opens first D.C.-area cafe in Fairfax City

By Jared Serre
Inside the Haraz Coffee House in Fairfax City (photo courtesy DMM Communications)

A Yemeni coffee brand has taken the first step in an expansion to the D.C. area.

Haraz Coffee House kicked off a soft opening today (Monday) for its first location near the nation’s capital. The cafe is housed in Fairfax City’s Fairfax Junction, formerly known as the Westfair Shopping Center.

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News

Merrifield drug trafficker who evaded police sentenced to 10 years

By Jared Serre
The Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse in Alexandria (file photo)

A Merrifield man who evaded arrest for eight years will spend the next decade in federal prison in connection to drug charges.

Otis Chevalier, 46, was sentenced last Thursday (April 10) to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty last year to both the distribution of and the conspiracy to distribute the drug phencyclidine — otherwise known as PCP, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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Around Town

Tour de Hunter Mill bicycle ride will traverse new W&OD bridge, Herndon Metro area

By Jared Serre
A bicyclist traveling on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail near Reston Town Center (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Multiple new thoroughfares line the course for next month’s Tour de Hunter Mill bicycle ride.

Registration is now open for May 4’s event, which will be the fifth annual bike ride through Fairfax County’s Hunter Mill District.

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Around Town

Vietnamese restaurant opens steps from Dunn Loring Metro station

By Jared Serre
Viet Corner in Dunn Loring (staff photo by Jared Serre)

Local pho fans have a new restaurant to choose from, this time in Dunn Loring.

Viet Corner, which comes from the family behind the Alexandria eatery Pho Viet Flare, opened on Saturday (April 5) in the former Quickway Hibachi storefront in the Shops at Avenir Place.

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News

Police officer who shot, killed Reston woman will not face criminal charges

By Jared Serre
Body camera video shows a Fairfax County police officer identified as Peter Liu pointing his gun at a Reston woman in the VY Reston Heights apartments (via FCPD/YouTube)

A Fairfax County police officer will not face criminal charges for shooting and killing a Reston woman after she struck him with a knife and cornered him in a dead-end hallway last September.

After telling Sydney Wilson numerous times to “back up” while she pursued him with a knife, Police Officer First Class (PFC) Peter Liu fired five gunshots in her direction — an adequate response on Liu’s part, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said yesterday (Tuesday).

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Countywide

FCPD adopts new policy on foot pursuits two years after fatal shooting

By Jared Serre
A Fairfax County police car (file photo)

The Fairfax County Police Department has implemented a formal policy for handling foot pursuits.

The department released guidelines on foot pursuits last week that it says will ensure officers utilize “leading-industry best practices” when handling “unpredictable events.” The new policy officially takes effect today (Wednesday).

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News

FCPD: One man killed, another stabbed in dispute at Groveton apartment

By Jared Serre
Fairfax County police car lights flashing (file photo)

One man was shot and killed yesterday (Monday) night during an altercation at a Groveton apartment complex.

Around 8:27 p.m., Fairfax County police responded to the Haven Huntley Meadows apartments in the 7200 block of Jon Paul Drive after an unconscious man with blood on his shirt was located in the parking lot, according to scanner traffic.

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Around Town

Reston’s Lake Anne Plaza to welcome beer and bratwurst restaurant

By Jared Serre
The forthcoming Beers n Brats restaurant in Reston (staff photo by Jared Serre)

A new restaurant concept expects to open mere steps from Lake Anne in Reston later this summer.

From the company behind Shipgarten in Tysons will come Reston Brats n Beers, which has leased a space in the neighborhood’s eponymous Lake Anne Plaza.

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Around Town

Peruvian chicken restaurant and Colombian cafe coming to Vienna’s Maple Avenue

By Jared Serre
Temporary signs indicate that Cuco's Peruvian is coming to the former Don Pollo location in Vienna (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Two new eateries are coming soon to Maple Avenue in Vienna.

“Coming soon” signage has recently appeared in storefronts for Cuco’s Peruvian (146 Maple Avenue West) and Aroma Express (416 Maple Avenue East).

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Countywide

Fairfax disaster relief task force spared from USAID gutting so far

By Jared Serre
Virginia Task Force 1 members help remove building rubble while responding to the 2023 Turkey earthquakes (via Virginia Task Force 1/Facebook)

While the future of foreign aid faces uncertainty, a Fairfax County-based disaster response task force has not yet felt trickle-down effects of ongoing cuts at the federal level.

Virginia Task Force 1 is operating like things are business as usual, even with the Trump administration moving to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), according to John Morrison, a planning manager for the task force.

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