(Updated at 5:25 p.m. on 5/31/2023) The double homicide in Idylwood on Memorial Day started as a drug-related robbery, Fairfax County police say.
Two people — a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old — were charged on Tuesday (May 30) with robbery resulting in death, a Class 2 felony in Virginia, the Fairfax County Police Department announced. Additional charges are expected in the case, which involved a shooting and multiple stabbings.
Police identified the 18-year-old as Vladimir Garcia Montes of Falls Church.
“During a search of the area, K9 officers located a significant amount of marijuana nearby believed to be connected to the homicide,” the FCPD said. “All individuals involved are believed to be known to each other and this is not a random act of violence.”
The FCPD identified the two people killed as Jonas Skinner, 20, of Ashburn and Braden Deahl, 18, of Arlington County. Deahl was a student at Washington-Liberty High School, which informed the community of his death this afternoon.
Officers called to the Tysons View Apartments on Pimmit Run Lane at 3:37 p.m. yesterday found Skinner in a laundry room of an apartment building. He had been shot in the upper body and was declared dead at the scene.
Deahl was found in a parking lot with wounds to the upper body. He was transported to a hospital, where he died. Though police previously said that both of the people who died had been shot, the FCPD now says Deahl had stab wounds.
A knife was found at the scene, the FCPD said yesterday.
Autopsies to confirm the manner and cause of death will be conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner “in the coming days,” police said.
Two other people — both juveniles — were found in the parking lot with stab wounds to the upper body and taken to the hospital. Their injuries weren’t considered life-threatening, but one of them remains hospitalized.
Image via Google Maps
(Updated at 6:35 p.m.) Two people have died, and two more have been hospitalized in an apparent shooting and stabbing at the Tysons View Apartments in Idylwood.
A 20-year-old man had been reported shot in the 2200 block of Pimmit Run Lane, a dispatcher said at 3:37 p.m. on the police scanner.
When officers arrived, they found a dead man in the laundry room of one of the apartments and encountered another man in the parking lot who had also been shot, Fairfax County Police Department Deputy Chief Eli Cory said at a media briefing.
The second man was transported to a hospital, where he later died.
Officers also found two people at the scene who had been stabbled, both of them juveniles. They were taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
Cory confirmed that one of the stabbing victims was from Loudoun County, but the relationship between the people involved isn’t clear yet.
“We believe that everyone involved came together for a purpose,” Cory said. “For what reason, we’re not sure, so we don’t believe there’s a threat to public safety, but we do want to find out why everyone was here.”
Police found a knife and a backpack with narcotics at the scene, according to Cory.
The police department said earlier that “several suspects were seen running from” the apartment, but Cory noted that some people seen fleeing when officers arrived could’ve been community members who were scared.
According to scanner traffic, one of the victims told an officer that the suspects were wearing masks, and three of them wore backpacks. The dispatcher noted that a helicopter was unavailable for the search due to the rainy weather.
The FCPD is asking community members who may have information about the incident — which is being investigated as a double homicide — to contact its detectives at 703-246-7800.
UPDATE: 2 victims suffered stab wounds considered not life threatening. 2 victims were shot and have been declared deceased. PIOs enroute to the scene.
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 29, 2023
Four people have been arrested and charged in the death of a woman who was found, possibly shot, in the Inova Mount Vernon Hospital parking lot on April 13.
Detectives have determined that Brenda Ochoa Guerrero, 33, of Alexandria died at a house in the 2500 block of Fairhaven Avenue in Huntington, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
She was then driven to the hospital at 8033 Holland Road, where a community member found her unconscious in the passenger seat of a vehicle with a gunshot wound, police said.
“Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau responded to the scene and immediately began investigating,” the FCPD said. “Detectives located surveillance footage of two men who drove the car to the hospital parking lot and two individuals who were in the SUV that picked them up.”
According to police, an anonymous tip helped detectives identify 43-year-old David Littlefield and 36-year-old Eric Thompson, both from Alexandria, as the men who drove Ochoa Guerrero to the hospital and left her.
Police say they were picked up in a different car by 35-year-old Alexandria resident Eric Rubio and 29-year-old Maryland resident Yuris Pineda Gallegos.
Officers arrested Rubio, Thompson and Littlefield on May 14, according to Fairfax County court records. Gallegos turned herself in at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center yesterday (Wednesday), according to the police.
All four of them have been charged with concealment of a dead body, a Class 6 felony in Virginia.
Rubio and Littlefield remain in custody without bond. However, Pineda Gallegos was released by a magistrate on personal recognizance, and a judge granted Thompson a supervised release on May 18, according to a Fairfax County General District Court clerk.
According to the court, Thompson was assigned a probation officer with whom he has to check in periodically.
A preliminary hearing in the case has been scheduled for July 17, per court records.
The circumstances around Ochoa Guerrero’s death are still under investigation, the FCPD said.
A woman was shot in the arm after someone fired multiple gunshots near the Hybla Valley Community Center this afternoon (Tuesday).
The Fairfax County Police Department is advising community members to avoid the 7900 block of Janna Lee Avenue, where officers are currently gathering evidence from the shooting.
According to scanner traffic on Open MHz, a caller reported hearing “four to five shots” in the area around 4:54 p.m. A couple of minutes later, the victim called from an abandoned Goodwill store on Richmond Highway, saying that she had been shot in the arm.
The woman was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
Scanner traffic indicates that multiple buildings were damaged in the shooting, with officers finding multiple shell casings, shattered glass and windows with bullet holes.
A caller told the FCPD that a vehicle with “blacked-out windows” sped away from the scene.
Police are also looking for a man who was with the woman at the time of the shooting and is considered a possible witness.
Earlier this year, the 7900 block of Janna Lee Avenue was the site of a fatal stabbing stemming from a domestic violence incident.
One person was transported to the local hospital in non life-threatening condition. Detectives are on scene investigating the shooting. Please follow our blog, https://t.co/XTgRJykwD5, for any available updates.
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 16, 2023
(Updated at 2 p.m. on 5/12/2023) A man from Newport News was killed during a struggle with police in Penn Daw where two officers fired their guns.
No officers were injured in the gunfire, which occured outside a McDonalds (6239 Richmond Highway), but one officer was hospitalized with head injuries from a fight with 38-year-old Brandon Lemagne prior to the shooting, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
“He was fighting for his life, literally,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said of the injured officer in a media briefing.
According to the FCPD, the encounter began when that officer got a license plate alert at 4:06 p.m. for a U-Haul truck that had been reported stolen in Richmond on May 3. The officer pulled into the Citgo gas station adjacent to McDonalds when Lemagne stopped the truck at the station and got out.
“He made contact with driver outside the vehicle,” Davis said. “Very shortly thereafter, the assailant — and that’s what I’m calling him — shoved our police officer into the open front driver’s door of the marked police car and was attacking him, was on top of him and was violently assaulting our uniformed Fairfax County police officer.”
At some point during the struggle, the police cruiser was put in reverse and drove backwards until it hit two vehicles parked at McDonalds.
Scanner traffic on Open MHz captured an officer yelling, “He’s got my gun” at 4:07 p.m., followed about 20 seconds later by shouts of “shots fired.”
According to police, two officers — a 24-year veteran and an 8-year veteran from the Mount Vernon District station — responded to the dispatch. The 8-year veteran fired “several rounds,” while the other pulled Lemagne off of the police officer, Davis said.
The 24-year veteran then fired his gun, hitting and killing Lemagne.
“Several shots fired. We got the guy,” an officer told the dispatcher.
The officer’s gun was recovered from the scene, and he was discharged from the hospital a day later.
Describing the incident as “pretty dramatic” and unlike anything he’s seen before, Davis noted that there was body-worn camera and surveillance footage of the incident. A video from what appears to be a cell phone has already been circulated on social media.
This is the second fatal shooting by Fairfax County police this year, after D.C. resident Timothy Johnson was killed outside Tysons Corner Center on Feb. 22.
“All officer involved shootings receive the utmost investigative attention from our internal affairs bureau and major crimes,” Davis said, later adding that “we certainly take the loss of any life very seriously.”
No officers were injured from the gunfire. Updates to follow.
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 11, 2023
— Romeo (@RVANOVA01) May 11, 2023
Fairfax County police officers are searching the Culmore area for a man who reportedly shot a person near the 7-Eleven on Glen Carlyn Drive.
The victim has been transported to a hospital with serious injuries, the Fairfax County Police Department said just before 2 p.m.
At 1:06 p.m., a dispatcher directed officers to the convenience store at 3337 Glen Carlyn Drive for a shooting “that just occurred,” according to scanner traffic. Officers reported that a man believed to be the suspect was last seen running on foot toward Glen Carlyn and Bellview Drive.
The suspect may be armed with a pistol, an officer said. He was described as wearing a blue sweater and dark pants.
The FCPD says anyone with information about the incident should call 911.
This is now the third shooting on Glen Carlyn Drive around the Culmore shopping center in 2023, following ones on Jan. 5 and April 17. The area was also targeted by a series of robberies in March.
UPDATE: The victim was taken to hospital with injuries considered life threatening. Officers continue to search the area for the suspect. 20 y/o Hispanic male wearing a blue mask, blk hoodie and blk pants. Call 911 with info
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 10, 2023
7-ELEVEN SHOOTING — 3337 Glen Carlyn Dr in Bailey's Crossroads. Man shot in leg with serious injuries. Manhunt in progress for the shooter. @ffxnow pic.twitter.com/mnywoZD3Js
— Alan Henney (@alanhenney) May 10, 2023
Photo via Google Maps
One man was killed and another remains hospitalized after a shooting yesterday (Sunday) at Build America Plaza in Bailey’s Crossroads.
Fairfax County police were dispatched to the 3800 block of South George Mason Drive for reports of a shooting around 2:19 a.m., the department reported.
“Two adult men were found suffering from gunshot wounds to the upper body. Both men were taken to the hospital with injuries considered life-threatening,” the Fairfax County Police Department said.
The man who died has been identified as 24-year-old D.C. resident Maurice Anderson. The other man was in critical condition, police said.
Witnesses told police that multiple people “were all arguing” in the shopping center’s parking lot after leaving a restaurant when the suspect fired multiple shots, hitting the two men, according to scanner traffic.
While initial calls offered no description of the suspect, detectives determined that he left the scene in a vehicle. The FCPD released images believed to be of the shooter yesterday afternoon.
The department is asking anyone with possible information about the shooting to contact its detectives at 703-246-7800, option 2. Tips can also be shared anonymously by phone (1-866-411-TIPS) and online.
By FFXnow’s count, this was the seventh fatal shooting in Fairfax County so far in 2023.
Detectives are on scene continuing to investigate. The second victim is in critical care and remains hospitalized. No suspect description at this time.
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 7, 2023
Photo via Google Maps
The federal government has agreed to pay $5 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the parents of McLean resident Bijan Ghaisar, who was shot and killed by two U.S. Park Police officers in Fort Hunt more than five years ago.
The settlement will allocate up to 25% of the total — or $1.25 million — to the family’s lawyers with the remaining money going directly to James and Kelly Ghaisar, according to court documents.
Officially approved by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton after a hearing at the federal courthouse in Alexandria on Friday (April 28), the agreement states that it shouldn’t be interpreted as “an admission of liability or fault on the part of the United States.”
In a statement, the Ghaisars said their proceeds from the settlement will go to The Bijan Ghaisar Foundation — a nonprofit dedicated to addressing police brutality and helping victims of gun violence — “and other charitable causes.”
Despite agreeing to settle, the family said they “do not believe this is justice” and remain disappointed that federal prosecutors declined multiple times to pursue charges against officers Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard, who were only identified after the family filed the wrongful death lawsuit in 2018.
“We still believe, however, that accountability for Bijan’s murder is possible, somehow, sometime, and some way,” the family said. “We now shift our focus to fighting in Bijan’s name for other victims, and for all Americans, for accountability and prevention of police brutality.”
Statement from The Ghaisar Family on the settlement of the civil suit against the Federal government for Bijan Ghaisar's murder. #WeAreBijan pic.twitter.com/DaR8Kieffd
— Bijan Ghaisar (@WeAreBijan) April 28, 2023
Rep. Don Beyer, who represents Virginia’s 8th Congressional District, including McLean, called the settlement “the clearest admission to date that Bijan Ghaisar did not deserve to be shot and killed.”
“The officers who shot him showed reckless disregard for Bijan Ghaisar’s humanity,” Beyer said in a statement. “Yet, to this day no one has been held accountable for that act that left an unarmed young man dead, or for the unacceptable government stonewalling that compounded the Ghaisar family’s suffering and enraged the community I represent. This lawsuit is ending, but justice has never been done in this case.”
The DOJ settlement is the clearest admission to date that Bijan Ghaisar did not deserve to be shot and killed.
My thoughts go out to Kelly and James Ghaisar and their family. As their fight for reform and justice continues, I will continue to be their friend and ally. pic.twitter.com/hp9jhspZqh
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) April 28, 2023
The Department of the Interior, which includes the Park Police, didn’t return a request for comment by press time. The department’s Office of Inspector General is conducting an administrative investigation to determine whether Park Police policies were followed, according to the Washington Post. Read More
A Manassas resident who fatally shot a man and hit a woman with a leaf blower at the Chantilly Park Shopping Center in 2019 has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and malicious wounding, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced Friday (April 28).
Steven Green, 55, faced a trial in March for the murder of 30-year-old Chantilly resident Miguel Angel Leiva Hernandez, but that ended with a hung jury.
With the jury about evenly split, no one on the victims’ side wanted to go through the experience of another trial, according to Laura Birnbaum, a spokesperson for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
“Having been through it and seeing how the evidence came out and how the jury reacted to it, there just wasn’t any appetite to do that again, so we ended up with this outcome,” Birnbaum said. “…This is guaranteed accountability. It addresses the incident, and all of the victims are happy with it.”
According to the commonwealth’s attorney, Green was cleaning the shopping center’s parking lot on May 24, 2019 when he got into “an altercation” with Myra Osorio Cordero outside a restaurant.
Green used his leaf blowers to send debris towards Osorio Cordero and, after they exchanged words, hit her in the face with one of the leaf blowers. When Leiva Hernandez saw Osorio Cordero bleeding profusely, he followed Green into the parking lot, where a physical struggle ensued and Green shot him once in the chest, killing him.
Osorio Cordero survived the encounter.
CA Descano announced today that Steven Green pleaded guilty to manslaughter and malicious wounding for the 2019 shooting of Miguel Leiva Hernandez. His March trial ended in a hung jury.
Green will be sentenced on September 1st. pic.twitter.com/mTJWsYlHyl
— Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Descano (@FairfaxCountyCA) April 28, 2023
According to a police report at the time, Green remained at the scene in the 14500 block of Lee Jackson Memorial Highway until police arrived. He was charged and tried for murder, malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Green claimed self-defense at the March trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court, according to NBC4.
To secure a guilty plea, prosecutors amended the murder charge to manslaughter and dropped the firearm charge. A sentencing hearing will be held on Sept. 1.
“It’s always a tragedy when a young person dies, and nothing can bring Miguel back to his family and loved ones,” Descano said in a statement on Friday. “As prosecutors, our job is to put on a fair trial, and we respect the original jury’s serious deliberation of the evidence in this case. Today’s agreement guarantees a just outcome for the community.”
Descano’s office also announced Friday that 22-year-old Lorton resident Ronnie Marshall had been sentenced to life in prison for shooting and killing Army colonel and doctor Edward McDaniel Jr. and his wife, Brenda McDaniel, a retired Army colonel and a nurse, at their home in Springfield in 2021.
Updated at 2:20 p.m. on 4/28/2023 — Police are officially investigating yesterday’s shooting as a double murder and suicide case.
Based on a preliminary investigation, detectives believe that 47-year-old Tiku Berhane Gebreeyesus shot his wife, 38-year-old Meskerem Belachew Solomon, and her brother, 31-year-old Amanuel Belachew Solomon, before shooting himself.
Earlier: Fairfax County police are investigating a domestic shooting at a West Springfield house.
Three people — two adult men and one woman — were found dead in the basement of a house in the 8500 block of Wild Spruce Drive, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
A handgun was found near the bodies, FCPD Deputy Chief of Investigations Eli Cory said at a 6 p.m. media briefing. The woman and a man in his 20s had multiple gunshot wounds, while an older man in his 40s was shot once in the upper body.
A housekeeper who lives at the home called 911 at 3:47 p.m., reporting that she had found three people shot after hearing gunshots from the basement. She was in an upper level of the house with a 2-year-old kid at the time, according to Cory.
“We believe that everyone is accounted for and this is domestic releated. There’s no apparent threat to the public,” Cory said.
According to scanner traffic, officers arrived at the scene around 3:56 p.m. to find the three dead people in the basement. A medic was requested for an officer who cut himself breaking through glass into the basement.
When officers arrived, they met the housekeeper as well as a nanny who had apparently left the house and then returned. Cory said three juveniles live at the house, but only the 2-year-old was home at the time of the shooting.
The FCPD says anyone with information about the incident can contact its detectives at 703-246-7800.
Officers on scene of a death investigation in the 8500 blk of Wild Spruce Drive, Springfield. Preliminarily, three people were found deceased inside a home and a firearm was found at the scene. Detectives are responding to investigate. pic.twitter.com/7Rk1DKSI3b
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) April 27, 2023
THREE FOUND DEAD IN HOUSE BASEMENT — 8500 blk Wild Spruce Dr in Springfield. Police have found three dead in basement. Gunshots were reported here earlier this afternoon. Police are trying to determine circumstances now. H/T @RVANOVA01 and @HCBright10 and @Gsxr98 cc: @ffxnow pic.twitter.com/y1p6tF8jk8
— Alan Henney (@alanhenney) April 27, 2023
