Fairfax police hunt for robber after gun fight
that leaves 1 hurt
By Dan Morse and Fredrick Kunkle May 21
A gun battle erupted between a jewelry store
robber and a police officer at a Fairfax County shopping center Saturday
afternoon — an exchange that wounded a bystander and sent people running for
cover.
One nearby merchant said there were so many
shots that it sounded like rain on a tin roof.
“A lot really fast,” said Jackie Caroe, a
manager at Max Muscle, a nutrition supplements store in the Brookfield Plaza
shopping center in the Springfield area.
Fairfax authorities on Saturday evening were
searching for a man who they say traded fire with the officer, then climbed
into a getaway car, drove off, crashed, carjacked another car, crashed again
and ran away.
“The suspect exited the jewelry store and immediately
opened fire upon our police officer,” said Fairfax Police Chief Edwin Roessler.
“And the officer got engaged in a gun battle.”
Roessler said a bystander, who was in a car,
was hit by a round that “appears to be from” the robber’s weapon. The victim
was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. The
officer was not injured. It wasn’t clear whether the robber was hit.
At 12:22 p.m. Saturday, police received a call
for an “unknown situation” inside the Dubai Jewelry store at the Brookfield
Plaza shopping center, just south of the Interstate 95 interchange with the
Capital Beltway. An officer who responded set up in a “cover and concealment”
position outside the store, Roessler said.
The officer then saw a man exit the store
armed with a handgun.
“The officer immediately challenged the
suspect,” Roessler said. “The suspect then immediately opened fire.”
“As the officer continued with the gun battle,
the suspect fled into a getaway car that was stationed nearby,” Roessler said.
The gunman appeared to be acting alone, police said.
Inside the Max Muscle shop, Caroe wasn’t at
first sure what she was hearing. Then she heard sirens, saw police and learned
what had happened.
“I mean, it’s kind of scary,” she said.
Another person who heard the gunfire, Daysi
Mazariegos, was working in her tax-preparing business. Mazariegos said she
heard three shots, then a burst of eight or more. They sounded to her like a
nail gun, as if from construction workers. That’s what she said to her husband,
who was also in the office.
“No, those are shots,” he told her.
She looked outside and saw police officers and
bystanders running along a wall.
After he drove off, the robber crashed in the
area of Spring Village Drive. He stole another car, police said. No one was
injured in the carjacking, police said. The robber then drove to the 7600 block
of Hooes Road.
“The suspect crashed again,” the chief said,
“and then fled on foot.”
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Patrol officers, police dogs and at least one
helicopter were used in the search.
Police described the man as 20 to 30 years
old, wearing all brown clothing. They cautioned that he may have changed
clothes.
During part of the search, residents in the
Hooes Road area were told to shelter in place.
Brookfield Plaza and the area around the
jewelry store were sealed off while officers collected evidence.
Officials didn’t immediately know how many
rounds were fired outside the jewelry store. “There were many shots fired,”
Roessler said.
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