A security guard who shot and wounded a trespassing teen at the Key Bridge Marriott site in Rosslyn will spend the next year behind bars.
Ahmed Namnoom, 54, was sentenced to the maximum five years of incarceration on Friday for unlawful wounding, though Circuit Court Judge Daniel S. Lopez suspended all but one year.
Namnoom will have a three-year probationary period following his release, where any violations would trigger the remainder of his sentence.
In a victim impact statement, the teen who Namnoon shot in the ankle said he has returned to normal activity as a member of the wrestling team at an Arlington high school. However, he said he has had to adjust to limited mobility since the shooting.
According to court records, Namnoom had been patrolling the fenced-off hotel site on Nov. 12, 2023, when he encountered a group of teenagers that had accessed the property.
Namnoom drove to confront the teens, pinning one against a fence with his patrol vehicle, a statement of facts says. When that teen attempted to flee, Namnoom drew his service weapon and fired.
“What I find to be most striking about this case: all the evidence shows that [the victim] was shot while running away,” Lopez said in court.
A witness told investigators that Namnoon had been “chasing” the teens, refuting the security guard’s claim that he had acted in self-defense after one of the teens pointed a weapon at him, according to court records.
Namnoom was initially charged with malicious wounding, but the charge was reduced due to Namnoom’s lack of criminal history and other considerations, Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti previously told ARLnow.
Since the hotel’s closure in July 2021, the 5.52-acre property has been a frequent target of trespassers and squatters. Though the building was condemned by county officials in March 2023, little impact has been made on keeping vagrants out.
After securing the building last May, county officials returned control of the site to property owner KBLH LLC in January for demolition.
