(Updated at 2 p.m.) A 40-year-old Arlington man has been arrested and charged with murder.
James Ray Williams is accused of fatally shooting a man at an apartment on the 100 block of N. Thomas Street in the Buckingham neighborhood earlier this week.
Police say Williams was arrested Friday evening on the 4200 block of Henderson Road, also in the Buckingham neighborhood and just a few blocks from the crime scene. In addition to murder, he is facing several gun and drug charges.
More from an Arlington County police press release, sent this afternoon.
The Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit is announcing the arrest of a suspect for his involvement in a fatal shooting in the Buckingham neighborhood.
During the course of the investigation, detectives developed a possible suspect description based on evidence located at the scene and witness interviews. Arrest warrants were obtained, and the suspect was taken into custody in the 4200 block of Henderson Road on the evening of March 31. James Ray Williams, 40, of Arlington, Va. has been charged with Murder, Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Possession of Controlled Substances with Intent to Distribute and Possession of Schedule I/II Narcotics. The suspect is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Facility.
Detectives continue to investigate the events that preceded the homicide. This incident remains an active criminal investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact police at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. Information may also be provided anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
On Friday, ACPD identified the victim as a 28-year-old man.
The deceased has been identified as Sean Bowman, 28, of No Fixed Address. This remains an active criminal investigation and anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
Court records show that Williams has at least twice been sentenced to prison for crimes in Arlington. That includes a net two-year sentence in 2010 for drug, gun and wounding charges, and a net eight-year sentence in 2013, with five years of probation after, for drug distribution and a probation violation.
Additional court records suggest that a man named James Williams, with the same birthday as James Ray Williams, was arrested for petty larceny in Arlington recently, on Feb. 5, but was released on a summons. He failed to appear at an arraignment on March 1 in the larceny case and was declared a fugitive, according to the records.
One law enforcement source tells ARLnow that the petty larceny suspect is not the same James Williams as the murder suspect. Contacted by ARLnow, an ACPD spokesperson declined to provide any clarification.
“An individual’s criminal history is protected under Virginia Code §19.2-389 and we cannot speak to any other possible criminal incidents involving the suspect,” said ACPD’s Alli Shorb.
Police are investigating the first reported homicide of the year in Arlington.
According to Arlington County police, a man was found dead in an apartment on the 100 block of N. Thomas Street yesterday (Tuesday) morning. He was suffering from “upper body trauma,” police said.
More from an ACPD press release:
The Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit is investigating a homicide in the Buckingham neighborhood.
At approximately 11:25 a.m. on March 28, police and fire were dispatched to the 100 block of N. Thomas Street for the report of trouble unknown. Upon arrival, it was determined a maintenance worker entered the apartment and located the unresponsive adult male inside. Arlington County Fire Department medics pronounced the male deceased on scene.
The preliminary investigation indicates the victim suffered upper body trauma. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine cause and manner of death. The identity of the decedent is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
This remains an active criminal investigation and anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
The apartment building is located on the same block at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More, as well as the Catholic church’s PreK-8 school.
The last reported homicide in Arlington happened in February 2022 on Columbia Pike.
Update on 4/1/23 — ACPD has identified the victim in this case.
The deceased has been identified as Sean Bowman, 28, of No Fixed Address. This remains an active criminal investigation and anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. Information may also be reported anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
Arlington County police are investigating an early morning carjacking that happened near Ballston over the weekend.
Police say three male suspects, at least one of whom was armed with a gun, approached a male victim who was parked on the 4100 block of N. Henderson Road. That’s just south of Ballston, in the Buckingham neighborhood.
“At approximately 3:15 a.m. on March 12, police were dispatched to the report of an armed robbery,” said today’s ACPD crime report. “Upon arrival, it was determined the victim was in his parked vehicle when three unknown male suspects approached his car, brandished a firearm and demanded the keys to the vehicle. The suspects then fled the scene in the stolen vehicle.”
“No injuries were reported,” the crime report continued. “The victim’s vehicle is described as a white Chrysler with Virginia license plate VTH1366. Officers canvassed the area for the suspects yielding negative results.”
The last reported carjacking in Arlington happened three days earlier, in Pentagon City. This is at least the ninth carjacking in Arlington so far this year. A total of 14 were reported in all of 2022, according to ACPD stats.
Also in this week’s crime report, four vehicles were broken into last week in the Pentagon City area, in a mini airbag theft spree.
More from ACPD:
LARCENY FROM AUTO (Series) (Late), 2023-03100073/03100074, 1400 block of S. Joyce Street/1100 block of Army Navy Drive. At approximately 7:28 a.m. on March 10, police were dispatched to the late report of multiple larcenies from auto. The investigation determined between approximately 9:30 p.m. on March 9 and 7:30 a.m. on March 10, the unknown suspect(s) shattered the driver’s side window to four vehicles, stealing airbags from three of them. Tires were stolen from two additional vehicles. The vehicles are described as Honda and Toyota models.
(Updated at 6 p.m.) A new urgent care for animals is opening this spring in Buckingham.
Urgent Animal Care of Arlington at 249 N. Glebe Road is aiming to open its doors “early April,” co-owner Dr. Kayleen Gloor told ARLnow via email. That is pushed back a bit from the hoped-for “winter 2023” opening.
It’s moving into a space that was formerly occupied by a branch of SunTrust Bank, which closed in 2019. In terms of the art deco neon signage the shopping center is known for, Gloor said the clinic’s signage “will follow all regulations and requirements of the shopping center and will conform.”
The veterinarian urgent care comes from the team behind Clarendon Animal Care, which has locations in Clarendon, on 10th Street N., and on Columbia Pike.
The urgent care will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and until 6 p.m. on weekends, we’re told.
This is Gloor and co-owner Dr. Natasha Ungerer’s first “daytime urgent care,” which is different than an emergency veterinary clinic.
Like for humans, urgent care is intended for animal patients in need of immediate care that does not rise to the level of an emergency situation. That could include limping, rashes, minor vomiting or diarrhea, ear infections, or coughing, per a graphic that the clinic has on its website.
Emergencies might include difficulty breathing, not eating or drinking for two days, seizures, and serious trauma. The closest emergency veterinary clinics to Arlington are located in Fairfax County. There are several existing pet urgent cares in Arlington, including one in Clarendon.
Gloor said the reason they choose N. Glebe Road in the Buckingham neighborhood is due to the proximity to their other pet-centric businesses as well as “zoning regulations within the county.”
Crime doesn’t pay, the saying goes, and that is particularly true if you get punched during a failed robbery attempt.
According to Arlington County police, that’s what happened early this morning in the Buckingham neighborhood.
Around 12:30 a.m., a man armed with a knife tried to rob another man of money along the 200 block of N. Glebe Road — the same block as the CVS and the post office. It did not go as planned for the would-be robber.
From an ACPD crime report:
ROBBERY, 2022-12070004, 200 block of N. Glebe Road. At approximately 12:32 a.m. on December 7, police were dispatched to the report of a robbery. Upon arrival, it was determined the victim was walking in the area when he was approached by the unknown male suspect who asked him for money. When the victim declined, the suspect allegedly displayed a knife and attempted to grab the victim. The victim then struck the suspect and ran from the area. The suspect fled the scene on foot prior to the arrival of police. Responding officers canvassed the area for the suspect yielding negative results. The suspect is described as a Hispanic male with a skinny build, 5’11, wearing a red hat, red shirt, black pants and white shoes. The investigation is ongoing.
Also in today’s crime report, someone fired several gunshots into a residential building along the 2000 block of Columbia Pike around 4 a.m. That’s the same block as the Dorchester Towers and Dorchester Apartments complexes, east of Penrose Square.
So far, there is no indication that anyone was actually shot, but a door was damaged.
SHOTS FIRED, 2022-12070025, 2000 block of Columbia Pike. At approximately 4:08 a.m. on December 7, police were dispatched to the report of shots heard. Upon arrival, officers recovered evidence outside a residential building confirming multiple shots had been fired and located property damage to a door within the building. No injuries were reported. There is no suspect description. The investigation is ongoing.
An affordable housing complex along Route 50 in the Buckingham neighborhood will officially open tomorrow.
The grand opening of The Cadence (4333 Arlington Blvd) on Tuesday, Dec. 6 caps off just over two years of construction. There will be remarks from project partners and local officials, followed by a ribbon cutting, community tour and reception, per the nonprofit behind the project, Wesley Housing.
Leasing began this fall for the five-story, 97-unit complex replaced the former American Red Cross building. The units are all set aside for households with an income at or below 70% of area median income.
“The community will provide safe, quality, affordable housing for low- to moderate-income working families and individuals just 1.2 miles from the Ballston-MU Metro Station,” Wesley said in a statement. “The community will also have a bus stop on-site.”
In its statement, the housing nonprofit extolled some of the community and architectural features of the project.
“With a striking exterior façade, a multipurpose community room, fitness center, free Wifi, and bold style, The Cadence is sure to complement the rhythm of residents’ lives,” the nonprofit said.
The property management arm of Wesley Housing will manage the community, while the nonprofit’s on-site resident services team will facilitate year-round programs and services.
The grand opening comes just after Wesley announced Kamilah McAfee will replace Wesley’s president and CEO of 15 years, Shelley Murphy. In recent years, the nonprofit has added staff to take on more development projects and provide residential services amid a continuing regional shortage of affordable housing.
Buckingham has a significant number of affordable housing units already, which made the project a source of consternation for some neighbors.
A stone’s throw from the apartments, two single-family homes were torn down and replaced with 19 market-rate townhouses. Wesley sold the land for the townhouses to Tysons-based home builder Madison Homes to help finance the affordable housing project, which also received state and county funding, loans and tax credits.
All lanes of N. Glebe Road are closed just south of Quincy Street due to a crash involving an overturned vehicle.
The single-vehicle crash took down power lines, according to scanner traffic, and the southbound lanes of Glebe are expected to be shut down for an extended period of time as a result.
One person was reportedly taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Police are on scene and investigating the cause of the crash and whether the driver might have been intoxicated.
Dominion, meanwhile, is reporting via its outage map that nearly 2,750 homes and businesses are without power in the area of the crash. The utility company expects power to be restored between 3-6 a.m.
LOCATION: N. Glebe Rd. at Henderson Rd.
INCIDENT: Traffic Collision
IMPACT: Southbound N. Glebe Rd. between Henderson Rd. and 4th St. N. will be shut down for an extended period of time. Seek alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/rTxxxNFRMc— Arlington Alert (@ArlingtonAlert) September 21, 2022
LOCATION: 400-blk N. Glebe Rd.
INCIDENT: Power Outage
IMPACT: Power is out in the area of the 400-blk N. Glebe Rd. due to a traffic collision involving a power pole. There is no expected repair time. pic.twitter.com/qpWQcKqHaF— Arlington Alert (@ArlingtonAlert) September 21, 2022
Those in line to get coffee and donuts in the Buckingham neighborhood this morning were met with an unusual sight.
The driver of a white Volvo drove partially down an embankment next to the Dunkin’ drive-thru at 70 N. Glebe Road, becoming wedged between the sidewalk and the restaurant’s driveway. It’s not clear what led to the crash, though the drive-thru line is not typically associated with excess speed.
“I’m not sure what the story is or how the car ended up this way,” said a tipster, who called it an “odd scene.”
No emergency vehicles are seen in the photos above, which were taken around 7:45 a.m.
The Dunkin’ and its drive-thru lane opened in 2017, replacing a former KFC.
A man allegedly got mad and drew a gun when an employee at a local car wash asked him to move his vehicle.
The incident happened around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday at the Mr. Wash car wash on the 100 N. Glebe Road, according to scanner traffic. No one was hurt.
Police say they have since identified the suspect.
From today’s Arlington County Police Department crime report:
BRANDISHING, 2022-08160067, 100 block of N. Glebe Road. At approximately 10:16 a.m. on August 16, police were dispatched to the report of a brandishing. Upon arrival, it was determined an employee of the business approached the suspect and requested he move his parked vehicle which was blocking other customers. A verbal dispute ensued, during which the suspect allegedly brandished a firearm before fleeing the scene in his vehicle. No injuries were reported. During the course of the investigation, officers identified the suspect and obtained a warrant for Brandishing a Firearm within 1,000 feet of a School. The investigation is ongoing.
Also Tuesday morning, a man allegedly robbed a 7-Eleven store in Virginia Square, assaulted an employee, and then went back into the store to steal more items.
ROBBERY, 2022-08160042, 3500 block of Fairfax Drive. At approximately 8:42 a.m. on August 16, police were dispatched to the report of a dispute in progress. Upon arrival, it was determined the unknown male suspect entered into the business, took several items off of the shelves and attempted to leave without paying. An employee confronted him, during which a verbal dispute ensued. Another employee attempted to intervene and the suspect struck him before leaving the business. The suspect quickly reentered the business, stole additional merchandise and fled the scene on foot. A lookout for the suspect was broadcast and officers canvassed the area yielding negative results. No injuries were reported.
That afternoon, another retail robbery led police on an ultimately futile search for the suspect, who is believed to have fled via Metro.
The robbery happened at the Costco store in Pentagon City.
“At approximately 12:54 p.m. on August 16, police were dispatched to the report of an armed robbery,” ACPD said. “The investigation determined the unknown male suspect was allegedly attempting to leave a business with unpaid merchandise when he was confronted by loss prevention.”
“A verbal dispute ensued, during which the suspect implied he had a knife before fleeing the scene with the stolen items,” the crime report continues. “The employees followed the suspect out of the business as he continued to verbally threaten them.”
The suspect was seen fleeing into the Pentagon City Metro station, but officers arrived at the platform just as a Blue Line train was departing, according to scanner traffic. That led to unsuccessful efforts to get Metro to stop the train at the Pentagon, at the Arlington Cemetery station, and finally in Rosslyn, per police radio traffic.
“A lookout for the suspect was broadcast and officers canvassed the surrounding area with negative results,” said the crime report.
An Amazon delivery van was reported stolen yesterday near Ballston. Except it wasn’t stolen. It was towed.
The tow pits two Arlington institutions against each other — infamous local towing company Advanced Towing and, in the other corner, newer arrival Amazon. It also raises a general policy question: should delivery vehicles parked improperly on private property get towed?
The incident happened around 2 p.m. yesterday at a residential complex in the Buckingham neighborhood.
“At approximately 2:01 p.m. on August 16, police were dispatched to the 4300 block of 4th Street N. for the report of a stolen delivery vehicle,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow. “Prior to officers arriving on scene, dispatch advised the vehicle had been towed from private property. Officers were then placed back into service.”
Soon thereafter, the van could be seen impounded in the Advanced Towing lot in Ballston.
Advanced says that the van was towed because it was parked in a fire lane on private property, and that the company tows regardless of whether the driver is making deliveries.
“The Amazon driver left their delivery vehicle unattended in a fire lane/no parking zone, rather than park in one of the open spaces,” the company said in a brief statement to ARLnow. “Amazon vehicles are not exempt from following the law or rules of someone’s private property.”
Signs at the address police were dispatched to do, in fact, explicitly state “No Parking — Fire Lane” and “Towed at Owner’s Expense,” though the exact location the van was parked prior to being towed is unclear.
ARLnow reached out to Amazon for comment but has not received answers to our questions as of publication.
This is not the first time Advanced has towed an Amazon van. ARLnow reported on a delivery van towed from an apartment parking lot in Falls Church in 2019.
Asked about delivery vans being towed and local towing policies, Savage referred readers to the county website.
“You can find information regarding private tows, also known as trespass tows, from private property on the County website and in County Code § 14.3-5. Removal of Trespassing Vehicles,” she wrote. “If a vehicle owner believes their vehicle was towed in error, they can report to Arlington County Police for investigation by submitting an online complaint or calling 703-228-4266.”
Advanced has long maintained that its local notoriety is the result of its efficiency in properly towing vehicles that are improperly parked and thus trespassing on private property. A lawsuit brought by former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring for alleged predatory towing practices only resulted in a $750 fine — which owner John O’Neill touted as vindication.
The towing company also won some recent plaudits for a driver’s actions to help a man threatening to jump from an overpass.
ARLnow’s photographer, meanwhile, spotted another Amazon van getting away with some improper parking just steps from where the other van was towed. While looking for the original towing scene, we snapped an Amazon van parked on the private drive of the 4300 block of 4th Court N.
“Private street — no parking in alley — towing at owner’s expense,” read a sign at the entrance to the driveway. It was placed by Advanced’s competitor, A-1 Towing.
Affordable housing units at the former Red Cross site in Buckingham will be available to lease starting this fall, the developer says.
The nonprofit developer Wesley Housing Development Corporation announced Thursday (July 21) it is set to lease all 97 units in the building, now called The Cadence. Units at the new apartment building at 4333 Arlington Blvd will range from studios to three bedrooms.
A leasing office is set up at 311 N. Glebe Road, where the property management team can meet with prospective residents, according to a press release. The apartment building is open to households with an income at or below 70% of the median family income, meaning it is open to families of four that earn up to about $80,000 a year.
The building is part of a complex that also includes 19 market-rate townhomes nearby.
Wesley Housing received $11 million in local and federal funding for The Cadence. The project has a total development budget of over $46 million, according to the developer’s website, and replaced “an underused parking lot, two single family houses and a vacant office building.”
There had been opposition to the apartment complex from community members in the past, who believed Buckingham has an outsized concentration of affordable housing. However, Wesley Housing believed the new units would be beneficial to their tenants.
“We can’t wait to serve the community with brand new quality, affordable apartments, and look forward to building up the lives of those will call these communities home in the coming months,” Lisa Davis, vice president of Wesley Property Management, said in the press release.
In addition to The Cadence, Wesley Housing plans to open leasing for three other Northern Virginia complexes later this year. A total of 367 housing units will be available to lease across the four complexes: The Cadence, The Waypoint at Fairlington in Alexandria, Senseny Place in Winchester, and The Arden in Fairfax County.
Wesley Housing’s property management wing expects to see a 20% increase in the number of housing units managed and to serve approximately 1,200 more people in the coming six months, according to the press release.
