A woman fell to her death from the Lenox Club apartments in Pentagon City Sunday evening.
A witness tells us the woman jumped from a 5th floor window around 6:30 p.m. Police are investigating her death as a suicide.
Last night there were shards of broken glass on the sidewalk in front of the building on 12th Street South. The area was roped off with police tape.
If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, help is a phone call away. Call CrisisLink at 703-527-4077.
A tipster sent us this photo of a spray-painted no-parking sign in front of a dumpster on 11th Street N., near the intersection with N. Kennebec St., in Westover.
“What right does someone have to do this?” the outraged tipster asked. “Can I report this to the county?”
The answer is yes — county officials say the spray paint can be reported to the police as graffiti since it’s on public property.
It’s unclear who is responsible for the rogue no-parking sign — the owner of the residential complex, the waste disposal company or a random graffiti prankster — and it’s not clear if we’ll ever find out. Police say that unless the graffiti is gang-related, it’s simply noted in a report and referred to a county agency for clean-up.
Police are looking for a construction worker who reportedly pulled a gun during an argument near Crystal City.
Initial reports suggest other construction workers were able to wrestle the gun away from the man after he brandished it during an argument at a construction site at Old Jefferson Davis Highway and S. Clark Street.
The man fled on foot wearing an orange reflective vest and a hard hat, which police have since located. Police are setting up a perimeter to try to find the man.
It’s unclear if the man was working at the Long Bridge Park construction site or on one of several other projects in the area.
Update at 9:45 a.m. — The search has been called off.
Apparently there are quite a few people who leave their cars unlocked at night. Otherwise the next two crime report items would not be possible.
LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 03/18/11, 3500 block of N. 3rd Road and the 200 block of N. Irving Street. Between 9 pm on March 17 and 6:30 am on March 18, an unknown subject entered at least nine unlocked vehicles and rifled through each. There are no known suspects.
LARCENY FROM AUTO (SERIES) 03/18/11, 4400 blocks of N. 16th and N. 17th Streets. Between 6:30 pm on March 17, and 9 am on March 18, an unknown person entered at least four unlocked vehicles in the same area. There is no suspect description.
The rest of this week’s Arlington County crime report, after the jump.
A three-day sweep of Northern Virgina by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents resulted in 163 arrests, including 11 in Arlington County.
Of those arrested, 130 were described as aliens with criminal records who were previously convicted of crimes including rape, assault, burglary and narcotics possession. ICE also arrested eight fugitives and three individuals accused of re-entering the United States after a previous deportaiton.
Of the 11 individuals arrested in Arlington, one was a man described as a 39-year-old Ecuadorian national and legal permanent resident of the United States.
“His previous criminal convictions include three counts of contributing to delinquency of minor, assault and battery against a family or household member, grand larceny and receiving stolen property, and statutory rape of a child between 13 and 15 years of age,” authorities said. “He was taken into ICE custody pending a hearing before an immigration judge.”
“We are a nation with a proud history of immigration. If you come here lawfully, work hard, and play by the rules, the United States welcomes you with open arms,” ICE Director John Morton said in a statement today. “For those who come here unlawfully and commit crimes at the expense of their neighbors and their communities, we will not rest until we find you and send you home.”
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell also lauded the raids.
“Once again through our working relationship with ICE, Virginia has had the opportunity to continue to safeguard its communities from convicted criminals,” McDonnell said.
ICE’s Fugitive Operations Teams were assisted by various local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Secret Service, Virginia State Police, Fairfax County Police, and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
Arlington County Police spokeswoman Det. Crystal Nosal said the department was notified about the pending arrests, but did not participate.
Several Yorktown-area streets have reopened since a lunchtime wreck sent one person to the hospital.
An Audi flipped on its roof and two other cars suffered severe front-end damage in the crash at the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Rock Spring Road. One person was taken to the hospital and reportedly evaluated for possible head injuries. Amazingly, everybody else was apparently able to walk away from the wreck.
It’s unclear how the collision happened. The speed limit on Old Dominion Drive is 35 miles per hour and there is a stop light at the intersection. Police took photos of the scene as part of an accident investigation.
Old Dominion and Rock Spring were both shut down for just over an hour.
A two-vehicle crash in front of the Ballston IHOP sent at least one person to the hospital with serious injuries early this morning.
Police shut down Fairfax Drive near Stafford Street for nearly two hours while they investigated the accident, which occurred around 2:30 a.m.
A real estate agent has been arrested after Arlington County police say he solicited the services of a prostitute inside a vacant, for-sale home.
Springfield, Va. resident Dennis [REDACTED], 55, was charged with unlawful entry and solicitation of prostitution after being apprehended on the 3700 block of South 2nd Street on Friday, March 11. Cops say they were tipped off when someone called to report a suspicious vehicle next to the home.
“Police were alerted when people saw a car in the driveway that did not belong there,” said police spokeswoman Det. Crystal Nosal.
Nosal said that [REDACTED] was not the “listing agent” on the home, but had access via a key box on the door.
[REDACTED] has 24 years of real estate experience and is noted for his “award winning service,” according to a profile on the Coldwell Banker web site. He was held on a $5,000 bond.
The arrest was listed in this week’s Arlington County crime report.
How did a slightly overweight 18-year-old manage to steal an elderly woman’s purse in or around the Rosslyn Metro station during the evening rush hour on a Wednesday — and apparently get away with it? The brazen crime was reported in this week’s Arlington County crime report.
ROBBERY 03/09/11, 1700 block of N. Moore Street. On March 9 at 5:30 pm, an unknown man stole a purse from an elderly woman with a walker. The suspect is described as an African American male around 18 years old, 6′ and 200 lbs. with a round face. He was wearing a red and black flannel shirt and dark pants. A teenage African American female was also seen with the suspect.
The rest of the crime report, after the jump.
Update at 1:55 p.m. — Dominion spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson says: “Approximately 5,000 customers lost power this afternoon for about 30 minutes. We are still investigating the root cause of the outage, but in the meantime, were able to reroute the flow of electricity to get customers restored quickly and safely.”
A major power outage has been reported along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.
The outage seems to be centered in the Clarendon area, where numerous traffic lights are reported to be dark. There have also been several reports of stalled elevators, including one at the Arlington County police station in Courthouse. The fire department has responded to the police station to try to free an officer who’s said to be trapped in the elevator.
On its web site, Dominion says nearly 6,000 North Arlington customers are without power due to a damaged power line. Police just reported that Dominion expects to have power restored within the hour.
While most people were asleep early this morning, police were trying to track down a grand theft auto suspect.
Just before 3:30 a.m., an officer radioed to dispatch that he was chasing a suspect on foot in the area of Shirlington Road and South Four Mile Run Drive. The suspect ran into an area of thick brush near Champion Billiards, where the officer apparently lost sight of him.
Police dogs and the U.S. Park Police Eagle helicopter were called in to look for the suspect. After about half an hour of combing the area, the search was called off.
Officers recovered a suspected stolen vehicle from the scene.
