A peaceful Fair Lakes neighborhood was rocked, earlier this month, by the shooting of a female resident there and the killing of a friend of hers at her home.
Fairfax County police charged a Chantilly man with the murder, and now court documents reveal the woman told police he shot her. They also indicate the retrieval of a weapon from his car.
THE TRAGEDY occurred Nov. 3, around 10:26 p.m., in The Gates of Fair Lakes condominiums, just off the Fair Lakes Parkway. Police responded to the 12700 block of Fair Crest Court after several neighbors reported hearing gunshots.
They arrived to find John M. Shirley, 53, of Annandale Road in Falls Church, face down on the sidewalk in front of the 37-year-old woman's home. He'd been shot in the upper body inside the house and staggered out the front door before collapsing and dying on the ground. Police say he'd also been stabbed, but the shooting caused his death.
Charged with murder was Anthony Lee Burdis, 38, of 13296 Leafcrest Lane, Apt. 201-C, in the Shenandoah Crossing apartments in
Chantilly. Police have not released the identity of the woman, since she was a victim, but they say Burdis was her former boyfriend and Shirley was her new one.
In a Nov. 7 affidavit for a warrant to search Burdis' green, 2001 Ford Expedition for "weapons, bloody [and/or] dark clothes or gloves, glass fragments and records or documents pertaining to the purchase or ownership of weapons or ammunition," police homicide Det. David Allen detailed the case against Burdis.
He wrote that the woman, herself, called police that night, saying that "her ex-boyfriend shot her." Later, he added, "She was transported to [Inova] Fairfax Hospital where she told officers that Anthony Burdis shot her."
A short time later, police found Burdis behind the Fair Lakes Shopping Center near her home. "[He] was wearing a light-colored shirt which was inside-out and a pair of blue jeans," wrote Allen. "There was what appeared to be blood on the pants."
THE BLUE IGUANA restaurant is in that shopping center and, about an hour after the shooting, wrote the detective, Burdis' vehicle was found in its parking lot. On Nov. 5, two days after the shooting, police interviewed the woman in the hospital. "[She] stated that Burdis broke into her apartment through a rear window," he wrote. "[She] advised that Burdis was dressed in all black clothes and had black gloves on."
Last Monday, Nov. 7, at 11:15 a.m., police executed the search warrant and seized from Burdis' vehicle: A black, long-sleeved shirt, black/green windbreaker, black/red gloves, a multi-blade pocket knife, binoculars and four color photos. He's being held without bond in the Adult Detention Center and has a Dec. 14 court date.