“The dust-up followed a contentious meeting in the Gum Springs
neighborhood on July 9, during which Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C.
Roessler Jr. said a string of shootings in the area that left six injured were
gang-related. Roessler declined to name the gang involved, citing a police
department policy of not giving gangs publicity. Police have said the men
involved in one shooting are black.
At the meeting, Annan and other African Americans sharply
questioned the idea that gangs were involved in the shootings, saying police
across the country had mislabeled violence in minority communities as related
to gangs. Annan also said racial profiling by police was a problem in the
county and criticized police for connecting the violence to a local recording
studio that caters to hip-hop artists. “We don’t need a surge of police,” Annan
said. “We need a surge of resources.”