Archive for December, 2009

Shooting at Gold Crust!!

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Sara called just now to alert me to major police activity at Gold Crust. Mary’ son told Mary that the police pulled a gun on him in the alley. No, they’re not being overly pushy in looking for donations, there was a shooting at Gold Crust and they were being very cautious. Mary then told Beth who told Sara who called me. And now we’re watching all the police activity.

UPDATE: (7:30am Saturday) Looks like two people were shot, one killed and as of late last night the shooter was still on the loose. See this article in the Alexandria Times.

UPDATE (10:00am Saturday) Two items of note I just learned:

  1. Sara texted me at 11pm last night (I was sound asleep) and told me that it was a standoff – the “guy” (we’re assuming it’s the shooter) was on the second floor of Gold Crust. Since the cops were gone when I woke this morning, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that they apprehended him.
  2. Here’s a press release from the Alexandria police:
    Alexandria Police Investigate Double Shooting on East Monroe Avenue

    Alexandria Police are investigating a double shooting that occurred at
    501 East Monroe Avenue

    On Friday, December 18, at approximately 7:30 P.M., officers responded to a report of shots fired. Upon their arrival, they found two victims. One victim was transported to a local hospital. The second victim was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and manner of death.

    Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the criminal Investigations Section of the Alexandria Police Department at 703.838.4444 or the Crime Solvers tip line at 703.838.4858. Detectives would like to remind witnesses that they can remain anonymous.

UPDATE: (1:00pm Saturday) Conjecture, Rumor and more!

Anne says in the comments below that the police have apprehended the shooter. Several news outlets say the shooter is still at large. Since Anne is a card-carrying member of the Nelson Ave Gang, I’m going to believe her over the local reporters. And, while I’m updating this, let me just say that the folks over at LesDunBelle had better take this as a warning – we here at Nelson Ave are a gang and should not be trifled with! haha!

UPDATE: (3:00pm Sunday) Updates from neighbors and Alexandria Times

I heard from a reliable source which was told by someone else who talked to some of the employees of the Giant that the shooting was the result of a love triangle. Also, the Alexandria Times has updated their article – the shooter shot himself in the head when officers approached him.

Also did anyone else notice that the WaPo is running a story about a worker who died in an industrial accident in Denver (another sad story) on their front (web) page this morning but a local murder/shooting is relegated to three small paragraphs in local news which hasn’t been updated since Friday night? Way to drop the ball, WaPo. At least the Alexandria Times has been updating the story periodically throughout the weekend.

UPDATE: (10:00pm Monday) Victim Identities

According to one of the more recent police press releases the victim who died was Kossi Djossou, 19 of Fairfax County. They do not mention if Kossi is male or female and I am unfamiliar with the name. The Alexandria Times mentions the victim who died as being female so maybe my sources (mostly rumor and her neighbor conjecture) were wrong and the one who survived is male? That or the Alexandria Times is wrong but they have real reporters – something which I am obviously not. While I’m asking questions, does anyone know how the victim who survived is faring?

We’ll keep you updated as we learn more…

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Truck Parking

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

About 5pm or so this evening I noticed one of the Giant truck drivers parking his trailer in the alley behind my place. Now, they have never done this before so I figured something must not be right. A few hours later and the truck is still there so I put on my investigator hat and went sleuthing.

First thought was to call the police but I like the Giant being there and I know they’re not doing so well since the bridge construction began (and they certainly weren’t the most profitable store before that) so I don’t want to cause them any trouble if I can help it. I *like* having a supermarket 50 feet from my back door.

Second thought and a much better one was to walk over and ask the people in the store what the story is. Of course, this required me to put on shoes and walk 50 feet. Oh, the things I suffer to bring you the news of Nelson Ave.! ;-)

I got to the store and asked what they knew and apparently I’m like the third person there. Clearly I wouldn’t get the scoop if this were a real news story. Though I did get the scoop on the armed robbery at the CVS a while back! No one at the store seems to know what the deal is but they make a few phone calls and finally tell me that the truck is broken and the driver is right around the corner.

It being a nice evening, I walk over and find the truck replete with driver and – most importantly – a repair man fixing the truck. They were working on the air line which provides air pressure the the air brakes (See a pattern? Lots of air here!). The driver joked that it probably wouldn’t be so good for him to have driven down the alley with no brakes. The repairman corrected him and said that the default for the brakes are to be “on” so he wouldn’t have been able to drive down the alley. The driver told me that the police had driven by twice and talked with him once so *someone* called the police (and, Kerry, if you’re reading this, it wasn’t me!)

Safety discussions aside, by the time you read this the truck driver and his trailer will have been on their merry way. I feel for the driver – he said he lives in Aberdeen and is going to end up in a hotel this evening instead of getting home to his wife. Poor guy.

Never a dull moment on East Nelson Avenue! ;-)

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