Launched in January 2010, ARLnow.com is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Arlington, Virginia. Started by a Pentagon City resident who has spent the past several years working in local TV news, ARLnow.com seeks to distinguish itself with original, enterprising, up-to-the-minute local coverage.
(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) Another evening rush hour crash is causing significant backups, this time on N. George Mason Drive, south of Ballston.
A reported “head-on” crash on George Mason, near the intersection of 2nd Road N., has prompted police to close the northbound lanes of George Mason Drive at Route 50.
Two ambulances have been dispatched to the scene for reports of non-life-threatening injuries.
A witness said via Twitter that one of the vehicles “jumped the median and hit a car traveling northbound at 2nd Road N.”
A crash involving at least two vehicles, including one with heavy front-end damage, is causing significant backups in the Crystal City area.
The crash happened around 3:30 p.m. at the busy intersection of Richmond Highway (Route 1) and S. Glebe Road. Multiple lanes of southbound Route 1 and eastbound Glebe are blocked and early rush hour traffic on Route 1 is backed up to the airport ramp.
A flatbed tow truck is on scene, working to clear the wreck, while police direct traffic. No word yet on injuries.
Arlington Pet of the Week Thorondor (photo courtesy of Gary)
Arlington Pet of the Week Thorondor (photo courtesy of Gary)
Arlington Pet of the Week Thorondor (photo courtesy of Gary)
Arlington Pet of the Week Thorondor (photo courtesy of Gary)
This week’s Arlington Pet of the Week is one-year-old green Pacific parrotlet, Thorondor.
Here’s what Thorondor’s owner has to say about this beautiful bird’s life in Arlington:
Thorondor is a green pacific parrotlet who just turned one year old this summer. He was hatched and weaned at Columbine Aviary in Denver, CO and flew to us in Arlington in the hold of a commercial airliner last August (it would have been a long way to fly on his own). He took some time to acclimate to his new home, but we instantly fell in love with this feathery little ball of attitude. He’s very much a part of the family now.
For food, Thorondor of course loves seeds, especially sunflower seeds and millet. Parrotlets shell all their seeds before eating the insides, so he generously shares all of his husks with the floor. But, he mainly eats lots of fresh food like broccoli, cauliflower, oats, apple, and kiwi.
Thorondor’s favorite activity is probably sitting on phones. He likes to chew on the case a little bit, tap at the screen with his beak (yes he can click on things and type gibberish), and just enjoys sitting up high. Thorondor’s other interests include bathing (mostly just dunking his head in water) and chewing. His favorite chew toys are shirts, socks, and beards. Thorondor has a feisty personality. He likes to playfully attack fingers and toys while making tiny roars. If he doesn’t want to step onto a finger or is annoyed by activity around his cage or wants someone to come pay attention to him, he can *loudly* let you know. But most of the time he likes to softly peep and swing on his swing or flap his wings for exercise. He’s even starting to roughly mimic some English phrases, but he has a lot of room for improvement! We look forward to seeing how our little beautiful birdy continues to develop and grow.
Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email[email protected] with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet. Please don’t send vertical photos, they don’t fit in our photo galleries!
Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks. Becky’s Pet Care is the winner of eight consecutive Angie’s List Super Service Awards, the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year and a proud supporter of the Arlington County Pawsitively Prepared Campaign.
Becky’s Pet Care provides professional dog walking and pet sitting in Arlington and all of Northern Virginia, as well as PetPrep training courses for Pet Care, CPR and emergency preparedness.
Person who was shot on a stretcher after shooting at office building in Crystal City
Shooting at office building in Crystal City
Shooting at office building in Crystal City
Shooting at office building in Crystal City
Shooting at office building in Crystal City
Shooting at office building in Crystal City
Shooting at office building in Crystal City
(Updated at 9:10 p.m.) Two people have been shot in an office building in Crystal City.
Police and medics responded en masse to the shooting, on the 1500 block of Crystal Drive. A female victim and a male suspect were both shot after police received multiple 911 calls about a possible domestic violence situation in an office suite, according to scanner traffic. Police confirmed later Wednesday afternoon that the shooting involved “a male suspect and female victim who were known to each other.”
The shooting happened around noon at the offices of the National Waste and Recycling Association. Police were previously called to the same office on July 15 for a report of a domestic situation involving threats made by a man against a female employee, ARLnow can report exclusively.
“Shots fired, shots fired!” an officer radioed to police dispatch upon entering the office. Witnesses told ARLnow that police rushed in to the building “fully armed” and told everyone to clear out.
Both people who were shot are reported to be in critical but stable condition and expected to survive, according Arlington County Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage. She said the shooting was “under investigation” and declined to immediately confirm whether the shooter was among those shot, nor would she say whether police fired any shots during their response.
A third person was reported to have suffered a minor foot injury during the incident, though it is unclear what caused it.
“I’m an Air Force veteran, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” a man who works in the building told ARLnow. He said the elevator does not require a fob or pass to get into the individual floors.
People in the building were said to be sheltering in place after the shooting, as police — including a SWAT team — searched the premises. The shelter in place status was lifted around 1:15 p.m., police said. The building is also home to an satellite office for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.
Roads in the area were closed by a massive, multi-agency active shooter response.
In the chaos prior to police arriving on scene, as dispatchers fielded multiple 911 calls, responding officers were told that the suspect might have had a gun, that he had locked himself and the female victim in a room, and that at least one caller had heard a “pop.”
Asked this afternoon whether police fired any shots inside the office, Savage replied that the “investigation is ongoing” and “no additional details related to the shooting are available at this time.”
Later Wednesday evening, police said in a press release (below) that both the suspect and an officer fired weapons during the incident. The suspect, identified as a 47-year-old D.C. resident, is facing several felony charges.
The Arlington County Police Department is announcing that charges have been sought in relation to the shooting that occurred in the 1500 block of Crystal Drive on August 28, 2019. Warrants for Aggravated Malicious Wounding, Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony were issued for Mumeet Muhammed, 47, of Washington, D.C.
At approximately 12:00 p.m., police were dispatched to the report of a possible domestic situation involving a firearm. The preliminary investigation indicates that the armed male suspect forced entry into the occupied commercial suite and assaulted the female victim. Arriving officers made contact with the parties, and during the course of the incident, the suspect and an officer discharged their weapons.
The suspect and victim sustained gunshot wounds during the incident. They were transported by medics to an area hospital with critical injuries. Both the suspect and victim are expected to survive.
This remains an active and ongoing investigation. Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact Detective M. Henretty of the Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit at 703-228-4237 or [email protected]. Information may also be provided anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
At this time there is not believe to be any active threat to the building and all involved parties have been identified. Police continue to investigate and conduct a methodical search of the building. Continue to avoid the area.
No charges have been sought at this time. PIO has cleared the scene. No additional details are available at this time. Follow Twitter for future updates.
Sheriff Beth Arthur and the new Arlington County Sheriff’s Office uniforms (courtesy photo)
Old Arlington County Sheriff’s Office uniforms (photo via Facebook)
Starting Sunday, Arlington County sheriff’s deputies will ditch their drab all-brown uniforms for slicker, black-and-tan and black-and-white duds.
In an announcement from Sheriff Beth Arthur, below, the Sheriff’s Office says the new unis will “continue to display the professionalism of the office.”
The Sheriff’s Office runs the county jail, oversees courthouse security, assists with traffic enforcement and performs other local duties.
Arlington County Sheriff Beth Arthur announced that sheriff’s deputies will be wearing new styles of uniforms starting Sept. 1, 2019.
The new uniforms are a change from the brown uniform that deputies in Virginia have historically worn. The new look will give black pants and a tan shirt to line staff and Sergeants, and black pants and a white shirt for Lieutenants and above.
In 2005, the Virginia General Assembly repealed a 1980s law requiring deputies to wear dark brown shirts and taupe pants. Sheriff’s offices across the state now have greater flexibility in their uniform choices.
Arlington County made the switch to new uniforms this year due to certain components of the brown uniform becoming increasingly difficult to obtain and uniform manufacturers no longer producing them. Several sheriff’s offices across the Commonwealth have already made uniform changes for the same reasons.
Sheriff Arthur and her staff are excited about the change and believe the new uniform will continue to display the professionalism of the office.
APS Students Now Can Identify as Nonbinary — “Students enrolling in schools in the District, Alexandria City, Arlington and Montgomery Counties now have the option to mark their gender as ‘X’ meaning nonbinary or unspecified. That’s in addition to male or female gender categories.” [WAMU]
Traffic Delays ACFD Response to I-395 Crash — “The I-395 incident happened shortly after 1 p.m. near the Duke Street overpass. Blunt said a crash left a woman trapped inside her car, but because of bumper-to-bumper traffic and other vehicles not moving out of the way, it took crews 24 minutes to respond when it would’ve taken them just eight minutes otherwise.” [Fox 5]
Pedestrian Tunnel Closure Date Set — “The 23rd Street tunnel is scheduled to close permanently on Tuesday, Sept. 3. The Virginia Department of Transportation will mobilize its contractor to begin deconstruction of the tunnel’s above-ground structures.” [Twitter, Twitter]
Nonprofit’s Student Program Deemed Success — “AHC Inc.’s college- and career-readiness program had a 100-percent high-school-graduation rate for participating students this year. A total of 24 students living in AHC’s local apartment communities participated in the non-profit housing provider’s readiness program.” [InsideNova]
Kiwanis Sell Lots of NJ Blueberries — “Those who purchased blueberries from the Kiwanis Club of Arlington earlier in the summer weren’t alone. Nearly 10,000 pounds of New Jersey berries were sold in the fund-raiser, netting nearly $10,000 that will be used to support grants aimed at serving children.” [InsideNova]
Storm Last Week Cast a Shadow — “A storm on the western horizon is casting a shadow on a storm on the eastern horizon. It doesn’t happen often. These are photos from last Wednesday.” [Twitter]
Nearby: Scooters Face Opposition in Alexandria — “Why scooters have drawn so much ire is among the most enduring mysteries of Alexandria ‘historic character’ activism. Alexandria’s history is replete with lots of vile historic character, like being a major center in the trade of enslaved people.” [Washingtonian]
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
Map of approximate weather balloon landing area (via Google Maps)
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
Weather balloon causes scare in East Falls Church neighborhood
A wayward weather balloon landed in a neighborhood near the East Falls Church Metro station today, frightening some residents and prompting the bomb squad to be called to the scene.
Police and Arlington County’s bomb squad were dispatched to the 6800 block of 19th Road N. just before 2 p.m. today, after a resident reported finding a tube with blinking lights in the front yard of a home, near an entrance to the W&OD Trail.
The entire package, which was deemed suspicious, consisted of a tube, two small boxes and an orange parachute. The bomb squad response was scaled back, however, after a police officer reported finding the words “harmless weather instrument” and information about its origin — which checked out. A bomb-sniffing dog also checked out the devices but did not finding anything of concern, according to scanner traffic.
No one was hurt by the device’s landing, though one cyclist nearly struck it while heading to the trail.
The styrofoam boxes attached to the balloon were wrapped with information about the device — which turned out to be a radiosonde that measures and broadcasts weather conditions from the various layers of the atmosphere back to the offices of the National Weather Service. The data is used to help computer models generate weather forecasts.
Ray Martin, a meteorologist with the Baltimore/Washington NWS office in Sterling, Va., said the office launches balloons twice a day. As the balloon gains altitude, it expands and then finally pops, sending it back down to the ground, slowed by an attached parachute.
Often the balloons are found in remote areas, but landings in the immediate D.C. metro area are not uncommon.
“It definitely happens,” Martin said, noting that the balloon was most likely launched by the Sterling office, though forecasters do not track the exact location balloons after launch. Sometimes the balloon payloads land a far distance away, he said.
Weather balloons and the instruments they carry are nontoxic and disposable, Martin said, though the one that landed in East Falls Church carried a prepaid postal pouch for it to be returned to the National Weather Service. Residents who find the remnants of popped weather balloons need not be alarmed, said Martin, and they can even keep what they find as a unique souvenir if they want.
Vernon Miles contributed to this report. Map via Google Maps.
Yorktown High School’s MJ Stewart in 2011 (staff photo)
September will arrive this weekend, heralding the unofficial start of fall.
Yes, the actual season starts on September 23, but with pools closing after Labor Day, football being played, Oktoberfest beer being poured and Pumpkin Spice Lattes being brewed — well, it’s basically fall.
(Note: In an affront to summer, Starbucks launched its pumpkin spice beverages today. More like pumpkin spite, right?)
With the weather feeling a bit fall-like to start the week, we thought we’d ask: what part of September are you most looking forward to?
Bronson Opening on Friday — “The owners of A-Town Bar and Grill are opening a new German beer hall this week that will replace the popular gathering place for hard-partying bros in Ballston. Bronson is scheduled to open Thursday, August 29 Friday, August 30 in the 6,000-square-foot space at 4100 Fairfax Drive in Arlington.” [Eater]
Rising Home Prices Not Caused By HQ2 Workers — “The first Amazon employees have barely arrived in Northern Virginia, but the housing market close to the company’s new headquarters in Arlington County is behaving as if all 25,000 workers are moving in next week… The lightning speed of sales, the shortage of homes on the market and the elevated prices for available stock are all being driven by those who already call the Washington region home, real estate agents say.” [Washington Post]
HQ2ers May Work on Hardware Development — Amazon “said that its second headquarters would work on device development, specifically naming Amazon Fire TV… And it expressed interest in students who study ‘data science,’ they said. Amazon also said there will be plenty of non-tech related jobs at HQ2, such as in administration, human resources and program management.” [Washington Business Journal]
PSA: Move Over for Emergency Vehicles — “ACFD, @ffxfirerescue and @AlexandriaVAFD units battled major traffic in efforts to provide help on a serious accident with a person trapped on I395. Remember, if you can’t pull to the right, help open enough space lane for emergency vehicles to pass.” [Twitter]
Review of Signature’s ‘Assassins’ — “An odd little smile crosses the face of Bobby Smith as he relates the disordered thoughts of presidential killer Charles J. Guiteau in Signature Theatre’s perversely entertaining revival of ‘Assassins.’ In what twisted frame of mind would this man have to be to boast of his horrific homicidal achievement — and not just boast, but sing about it, too?” [Washington Post, Playbill]
Nearby: Man Dies After Bailey’s Crossroads Crash — “Detectives from our Crash Reconstruction Unit have preliminarily determined that Solomon Zelelew, of Alexandria City, was walking on a sidewalk near Columbia Pike and Carlin Springs Road. A 2015 Toyota Corolla was traveling west on Columbia Pike when the driver, in an attempt to avoid another vehicle, drove onto the sidewalk and hit Mr. Zelelew.” [Fairfax County Police Department]
Arlington County Police are investigating a camera found in a local bathroom.
ACPD says they were called Saturday evening to a business on the 1300 block of Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn — which includes an office building and a hotel — after someone found a camera “in the toilet area of a restroom inside a business.” The camera was removed and police are now investigating the incident as a case of unlawful filming.
More from ACPD:
UNLAWFUL FILMING (late), 2019-08240209, 1300 block of Wilson Boulevard. At approximately 6:47 p.m. on August 24, police were dispatched to the late report of found property. Upon arrival, it was determined that at approximately 4:25 p.m., a witness allegedly located a camera in the toilet area of a restroom inside a business and subsequently removed it and notified management. There is no suspect(s) description. The investigation is ongoing.
Dirt bike and ATV riders on 8/25/19 (photo courtesy James Mahony)
Dirt bike and ATV riders on 8/25/19 (photo courtesy James Mahony)
Dirt bike and ATV riders on 8/25/19 (photo courtesy James Mahony)
Dirt bike and ATV riders on 8/25/19 (photo courtesy James Mahony)
(Updated at 1 p.m.) A large group of dirt bike and ATV riders rolled through parts of Arlington last night.
As in years past, the apparent “Sunday Fun Day” ride saw dozens of riders drive from D.C. to Arlington and back to the District. The riders — who typically ride when the weather is especially nice, as it was last night — reportedly entered the county via Route 50, rumbled past Rosslyn and Courthouse, and then headed south to Crystal City.
The group was followed by a couple of police cruisers.
“Heard a thunderous noise outside my apartment that sounded like fighter jets,” one resident told ARLnow. “Came out to my balcony to see a swarm of bikes and ATVs on Route 50. The police gave chase 30 seconds later.”
On Monday afternoon, Arlington County Police revealed that an 18-year-old Maryland man was arrested on drug, weapon and other charges during the dirt bike ride. ACPD is working with other police agencies to identify each of the nearly 100 riders in the group, per a crime report item (below).
FELONY POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA WITH THE INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE (Significant), 2019-08250230, 800 block of 18th Street S. At approximately 9:36 p.m. on August 25, police were dispatched to the report of suspicious persons attempting to load an ATV and dirt bike into the back of a truck. During a probable cause search of the truck, officers recovered a firearm and evidence related to the distribution of marijuana. During the course of the arrest, the suspect provided false information regarding his identity. Alfonso Murphy, 18, of Landover, MD, was arrested and charged with felony possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, identity theft, forgery and carrying a concealed weapon. He is being held without bond. The investigation is ongoing.
ELUDING (Significant), 2019-08250191, Key Bridge at Fort Myer Drive. At 7:57 p.m. on August 25, police were notified that approximately 100 ATVs and dirt bikes were entering Arlington County from the District of Columbia utilizing the Key Bridge. Officers responded to the area, activated their emergency equipment and monitored the group for the safety of pedestrians and motorists. No injuries or property damage were reported. Arlington County Police are actively investigating and working with our regional partners to identify the riders. The operation of all-terrain vehicles on any public highway or other private property is prohibited by Virginia State Code § 46.2-915. If citizens observe these vehicles being operated in the county or know the identity of someone riding on Arlington County roadways, they should call the Emergency Communications Center at 703-558-2222. Information can also be provided anonymously to Arlington County Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS.
