An 18-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection to a fatal shooting in the Fairfax Village Apartments on Saturday (March 25).
Fairfax County police officers were called to the apartment complex in the 10400 block of Viera Lane in Oakton at 7:47 a.m. by a family member of the victim who reported the shooting to 911.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, the family member was in the apartment’s bedroom when they were awoken by a gunshot. They found Javier Gomez, 20, of Fairfax lying on the living room floor and saw the suspect — identified as Darren Cruz Colindres, 18, of Vienna — running out of the apartment.
“This is not a domestic-related shooting, but the suspect is known to the family,” FCPD Lt. James Curry said in a media briefing that morning.
Cruz Colindres had apparently been staying at the apartment overnight, police said.
When officers got to the scene, they found Gomez on the floor with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the upper body and administered medical aid until Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel arrived to transport him to a hospital, where he later died.
Officers and detectives tracked Cruz Colindres to a home in the 2700 block of Pleasantdale Road in Merrifield, according to the FCPD, which reported just before noon that a suspect had been taken into custody.
In addition to second-degree murder, Cruz Colindres has been charged with the use of a firearm while committing a felony.
No firearm has been recovered yet, as of 5 p.m. Saturday, when the FCPD issued its news release.
“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy in the coming days to determine the cause and manner of death,” the police department said. “Detectives continue to conduct interviews, collect video surveillance and process evidence recovered from the scene.”
The FCPD says anyone who may have information can contact its Major Crimes Bureau detectives at 703-246-7800, option 2. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone (1-866-411-TIPS) and online.
This was Fairfax County’s second homicide last week after a couple was found dead on a Reston trail on Wednesday (March 22) in what police believe was a murder-suicide incident.
Police have identified the couple that was found dead in Reston Tuesday (March 21) afternoon in what they say was a murder-suicide.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Herndon resident Richard Garerick, 75, shot his wife, Patricia Garverick and then later killed himself.
The couple was found dead around 3 p.m. on a trail near Stratton Woods Park (2431 Fox Mill Road). The couple was found by a community member with gunshots wounds to their upper bodies.
Their car was found in the parking lot of Stratton Woods Park, along with cartridge cases and a firearm. They were pronounced dead on the scene by fire and rescue crews.
“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will be completing autopsies to confirm manner and cause of death,” FCPD wrote in a statement.
An 86-year-old man appears to have shot his wife and then himself at their home in the Wakefield area on Tuesday (Feb. 28), police say.
Fairfax County police officers were called to a house in the 8900 block of Walker Street near Annandale around 10:15 p.m. after a friend found the bodies of Janos John Gertler and 73-year-old Eva Anna Vas.
Both Gertler and Vas had gunshot wounds and were declared dead at the scene.
“Preliminarily, detectives believe Janos shot his wife, Eva, before shooting himself,” the Fairfax County Police Department said in a report released yesterday (Wednesday). “Several spent cartridge cases and a firearm were located within the home. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will be completing autopsies to confirm manner and cause of death.”
An investigation into the apparent murder-suicide is still underway.
Preliminarily, detectives believe this to be a murder-suicide involving an elderly couple. Additional updates will be posted to our blog, https://t.co/YUigMm3yDx when available. https://t.co/yFyswvnZhH
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) March 1, 2023
This is the second fatal shooting within the past week that the FCPD believes stemmed from a domestic incident. Last Friday (Feb. 24), a Herndon man shot another man who had allegedly stabbed his wife at their home in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way.
The man who was shot and the woman both died. Police later identified them as Joseph Ryan, 39, of Springfield and Christine Banfield, 37, of Herndon.
Police Chief Kevin Davis told media that investigators believed everyone involved in the incident knew each other, but in a news release, the FCPD said the man told 911 that “he shot an unknown man who entered his home and stabbed a woman.”
An Arlington man was indicted by a Fairfax County grand jury yesterday for allegedly shooting and killing Gret Glyer, founder and CEO of the nonprofit crowdfunding platform DonorSee.
Joshua Danehower, 33, faces felony charges for murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, the Office of the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney announced today.
Fairfax City police found Glyer shot to death in his Bolton Village Court home on June 24, 2022. They were called to the house by Glyer’s wife, who was home at the time with their two children, according to NBC4.
Glyer was 32 when he was killed. It was the city’s first homicide since 2008, police said at the time.
Danehower was arrested at Dulles International Airport five days later. Police identified him as an acquaintance of the family — possibly through their church — though court documents indicated that he was an ex-boyfriend of Glyer’s wife and had been seeking to “reconnect” with her, FOX5 reported.
According to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, detectives said at a preliminary hearing that they identified Danehower as the suspect “through analysis of the bullet casings found on the scene.”
“My office takes violent crimes like these very seriously, and we are grateful to Dets. Trey Lightly and Matthew Greene for their excellent work on this case in pursuit of justice for the victim’s family and the community,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement.
Glyer founded DonorSee in 2016, inspired by his time living in Malawi, where he helped start the Girls Shine Christian Academy, according to the nonprofit’s website. The platform supports donations to charity projects and nonprofits, raising $6 million for nearly 14,000 different projects.
The trial date for the case will be determined tomorrow (Thursday), according to Descano’s office.
Danehower is being represented by the Fairfax County Office of the Public Defender, which told FFXnow that it has no comment.
Photo via DonorSee/YouTube
A man already serving a life sentence in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend in 2002 has pleaded guilty to killing a woman in Herndon 35 years ago.
The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney announced today that Charles Helem was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering 37-year-old Eige Sober-Adler, whose body was found in a field near the Dulles Toll Road on Sept. 8, 1987.
Helem is facing a third life sentence for the 2002 murder of 19-year-old Jennifer Landry in Prince George’s County, Maryland. He’s currently incarcerated at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison for strangling 37-year-old Patricia Bentley in her Chantilly home in April 2002.
“Today, the community can begin to move toward peace and closure,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement. “I am grateful for the cooperation across agencies and jurisdictions that helped solve this case, including from Fairfax Police Chief Kevin Davis, Prince George’s Police Chief Malik Aziz, and the cold case detectives in both jurisdictions.”
Helem was indicted in Sober-Adler’s murder by a Fairfax County grand jury in January after providing information about her death that only the suspect would know, Davis said at a joint press conference with Prince George’s police, who shared that Helem had confessed in 2021 to killing Landry.
According to The Washington Post, Sober-Adler was found nude and beaten by construction workers in a field near a Days Inn that was under construction in Herndon on Sept. 8, 1987. Her car was found nearby on the shoulder of the westbound lanes of the Dulles Toll Road.
An autopsy determined that her skull had been fractured, and she suffered a “cerebral hemorrhage caused by an unknown object,” the Post reported.
After his sentencing today, Helem is being transferred to Prince George’s County, where he’s set to plead guilty to Landry’s murder. He will serve all three life sentences concurrently, the Office of the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney confirmed to FFXnow.
Five MS-13 members have been sentenced to life in prison yesterday for kidnapping and killing two teens at Annandale’s Holmes Run Stream Valley Park in 2016.
Elmer Zelaya Martinez, Ronald Herrera Contreras, Henry Zelaya Martinez, Pablo Velasco Barrera, and Duglas Ramirez Ferrera were each handed six terms of life imprisonment as well as two 120-month terms by U.S. District Court Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr., the Justice Department announced yesterday.
A federal jury convicted the men in July for the brutal murders of a 17-year-old Falls Church resident — identified by prosecutors by the initials E.E.E.M. — on Aug. 18, 2016 and a 14-year-old Alexandria resident, identified as S.A.A.T., on Sept. 26, 2016.
“This is a profoundly disturbing case involving gang members taking the lives of young members of our community,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said. “We are proud to work with our federal partners on cases like this to keep Fairfax County and surrounding communities safe.”
Ranging in age from 24 to 31, the men attacked and stabbed E.E.E.M. over 100 times after meeting him at Holmes Run park, because they “erroneously suspected” that he was a member of the rival 18th Street gang, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office:
On the night of August 28, 2016, the gang lured E.E.E.M. to Holmes Run Stream Valley Park in Fairfax County under the pretense that there was going to be a gang meeting there. Instead, in a wooded area of the park, gang members restrained, attacked, and killed E.E.E.M., stabbing and chopping him more than 100 times with knives, a machete, and a pickaxe. Afterwards, the gang broke one of E.E.E.M.’s legs so that his body would fit into the pre-dug hole that was nearby.
Prosecutors say S.A.A.T. was killed in a similar manner based on an unfounded suspicion that he was a police informant:
The gang told S.A.A.T. that there was going to be a gang meeting later that night and encouraged him to attend. Not long thereafter, S.A.A.T. went outside in his pajamas, telling his mother he was just taking out the trash. Eventually, several gang members picked up S.A.A.T. and drove him to the same park where they had killed E.E.E.M. The gang members restrained, attacked, and killed S.A.A.T., stabbing and chopping him with knives, machetes, and a pickaxe. They also filmed the murder with a cell phone so that they could prove to gang leaders in the United States and in El Salvador that they deserved to be promoted in rank. Once S.A.A.T. was dead, the gang broke his legs and tied him up with his own pajama pants so that he would fit into the shallow grave that was dug for him that night.
Police didn’t find the remains of the two teens until March 2017 after they received a tip that prompted a two-day search of the area, according to news reports at the time. The park was also the site of murders by different MS-13 members in 2013.
The five men sentenced yesterday were all convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and murder in aid of racketeering activity, conspiracy to kidnap, murder in aid of racketeering activity, and kidnapping resulting in death.
There was a total of 17 defendants in the case, including nine people who pleaded guilty before the trial earlier this year, according to the DOJ.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Jessica Aber called the life sentences a “fitting” response to “appallingly violent murders” that resulted in “wrecked families and fear-stricken communities.”
“They will protect the public from these five defendants, send a message to other members and associates of MS-13 that there will be severe consequences for committing violent crimes in furtherance of their gang’s illicit activities, and provide a measure of justice for the victims and their families,” Aber said in a statement.
Image via Google Maps
The Fairfax County Police Department announced that Chante Jones, 33, will be charged with second-degree murder after allegedly assaulting Michelle Huntley in June.
According to a police release, Huntley was found by a passerby at a bus stop in the 7900 block of Richmond Highway.
“She was taken to the hospital and succumbed to her injuries on June 26,” the release said. “Detectives located surveillance footage from several sources near the bus stop where the fatal assault occurred. An officer then spotted Jones on June 27 and took him into custody. At the time, Jones was charged with aggravated malicious wounding and held without bond.”
This afternoon, county police said that the results of an autopsy have led to the aggravated malicious wounding charge being amended to second degree murder.
Huntley, 63, was a person experiencing homelessness and was known in the community as Mama, ABC7 reported.
According to police:
Anyone who may have information about this assault is asked to contact detectives at 703-246-7800, option 2. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone – 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477), and by web – Click HERE. Download the ‘P3 Tips’ App “Fairfax Co Crime Solvers”. Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 dollars. Please leave contact information if you wish for a detective to follow up with you.
Fairfax County police are searching for a 43-year-old man from Mount Vernon who they say is a suspect in a fatal shooting on Sunday (Oct. 2).
Detectives believe Kyjuan Omar Braxton Trott shot Brandon Wims, 31, of Maryland multiple times after approaching the vehicle where Wims and two other people were sitting at the Old Mill Gardens apartment complex in Mount Vernon, the Fairfax County Police Department said today (Thursday).
Trott was seen leaving the area in a silver Nissan Sentra registered in Maryland as 2ET4005, according to police.
Police responded to the 5800 block of St Gregorys Lane at 7 a.m. after receiving a report of gunshots in the area. At the same time, Wims was driven to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital before being transferred to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he ultimately died.
The other two occupants of the vehicle were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
As reported earlier this week, the FCPD says its detectives believe Trott and Wims were acquainted with each other, but the exact nature of their relationship remains under investigation.
Trott is now wanted by the FCPD, which has obtained warrants for second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, felon in possession of a firearm, and felon in possession of ammunition.
“Detectives are asking anyone with information to Trott’s whereabouts to call 703-246-7800,” the police department says. “If you see Trott, please call 911 immediately.”
More on how to contact the FCPD:
Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone – 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477) and by web — Click HERE. Download the ‘P3 Tips’ App and follow the steps to “Fairfax Co Crime Solvers.” Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 dollars. Please leave contact information if you wish for a detective to follow up with you.
Fairfax County police are investigating a fatal shooting after someone allegedly fired multiple gunshots into a car parked in the Mount Vernon area yesterday morning (Sunday), killing one of the occupants.
Officers were called to the Old Mill Gardens apartment complex at Jeff Todd Way and St. Gregory’s Lane shortly before 7 a.m. after receiving a report of gunshots in the area, Fairfax County Police Department Lt. Dan Spital said at a media briefing.
According to police, the shooting followed “an altercation” between three occupants of a car in the apartment parking lot and an individual who approached the vehicle on foot.
“At some point, the individual outside of the car fired multiple rounds inside that vehicle,” Spital said. “At least one person was struck, and that is our victim.”
Still in the same car, an acquaintance drove the victim, a man, to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, where he was admitted with gunshot wounds to the upper body, police say. According to Spital, doctors determined that the man needed to be transferred to Inova’s Fairfax hospital, where he ultimately died.
The victim has succumbed to his injuries. Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau and Crime Scene Section are responding to assume the investigation. https://t.co/OUoja7Lb93
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) October 2, 2022
Police believe the suspect and victim knew each other but are “still trying to determine the extent of that relationship,” Spital said. The suspect is likely a man, possibly the driver of a silver Nissan Maxima with Maryland tags seen “fleeing” the area, the FCPD says.
Police didn’t have any identifying information about the suspect beyond the description of the car seen leaving the area. However, the shooting is being investigated as a murder, according to Spital, who noted that “several rounds” were fired.
“It’s disturbing for this community, [on] a Sunday morning. I mean, it’s a time for families,” Spital said. “…The investigation has just gotten started, so our detectives, although they may not be on the scene here, are going to be working around the clock until they find the assailant.”
An 82-year-old man died in Rose Hill yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) after an apparent assault by his son, Fairfax County police say.
Samy Hassanein, 36, was arrested overnight and has now been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his father, Talat Hassanein, the Fairfax County Police Department announced this morning (Wednesday).
According to the department, its officers were called to the 5500 block of Justis Place at 2:37 p.m. yesterday for a death investigation. Upon arriving at the house, they found Talat Hassanein unconscious at the bottom of the basement stairs.
Talat was pronounced deceased at the scene by Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel.
“As detectives began investigating, they identified significant trauma to Talat’s upper body,” the FCPD said. “Detectives from our Crime Scene Section responded to the scene and discovered evidence to indicate Talat’s death was not accidental.”
Interviews and evidence collected at the home led detectives to determine that Samy Hassanein “fatally assaulted his father,” police said. Talat lived at the home with Samy and his other adult sons, who were all present during the investigation, according to the FCPD.
Samy Hassanein is currently in custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond.
The police department says anyone with information about the incident can contact its detectives:
Detectives are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to call our Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 2. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone – 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477), and by web – Click HERE. Download the ‘P3 Tips’ App and follow the steps to “Fairfax Co Crime Solvers”. Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1,000 dollars. Please leave contact information if you wish for a detective to follow up with you.
