(Updated at 2 p.m.) An Arlington teen of the same name as an 18-year-old convicted in a recent high-profile case has been arrested after allegedly fleeing from police.
Arlington County police say Kenan Owens, 18, was arrested Wednesday in Chesterfield County — near Richmond — on warrants for reckless driving and eluding.
The charges stem from an incident early Tuesday morning in which, according to police, an officer tried to pull over a vehicle seen driving well over the speed limit near the Columbia Pike and Washington Blvd ramps.
The driver allegedly fled the traffic stop and abandoned the car a few blocks away, in the Arlington View neighborhood.
More from ACPD:
RECKLESS DRIVING, 2023-09190035, Washington Boulevard at Columbia Pike. At approximately 6:10 a.m. on September 19, an officer initiated a traffic stop for reckless driving after observing the vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed over the posted speed limit. The driver disregarded the officer’s emergency equipment and fled the area. The officer last observed the vehicle turning from Columbia Pike and subsequently located the abandoned vehicle in the 1400 block of S. Rolfe Street. After further investigation, officers determined the identity of the driver and obtained warrants for Kenan Owens, 18, of Arlington, VA for Reckless Driving and Eluding. He was located and taken into custody in Chesterfield County, VA on September 20.
Earlier this year, an 18-year-old Arlington resident named Kenan Owens was arrested by a SWAT team after triggering a lockdown at Wakefield High School. Police said at the time that he “was known to carry a firearm” and “had an ongoing dispute with” a student at the school.
Owens was charged with trespassing, stalking, having a loaded gun around children, altering a gun’s serial number and conspiring to distribute marijuana.
All but the trespassing and one of four gun charges was dropped. In June he was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months on both charges, with the entire sentence suspended on the gun charge and all but two months suspended on the trespassing charge, according to court records.
Arlington County police spokeswoman Ashley Savage was unable to confirm to ARLnow whether the 18-year-old Kenan Owens arrested this week was the same Kenan Owens — who will turn 19 in December — charged in the high-profile Wakefield incident. State law prevents the department from revealing details of a suspect’s prior criminal history in that manner, Savage said.
The charges from this week are not yet visible in the state court records system and Owens is not expected to be booked into Arlington’s jail, Savage said, after being released on a court summons in Chesterfield County.