Annandale Man Found Dead
The city’s first murder of 2006 took place in the west-end Tuesday,. At 2:56 a.m. on March 21, Alexandria Police officers were called to the 300 block of South Whiting Street to check on reports of an injured man. When they arrived, they made a gruesome discovery.
Mustafa Aburanat, a 41-year-old Annandale man, was found dead inside a parked car. An autopsy determined the manner of death to be homicide and the cause of death to be a gunshot wound.
“We haven’t’ determined a motive yet, so we don’t know if he was targeted,” said Amy Bertsch, a public information officer with the department. “We’re still investigating why he was there and what his was connection to the neighborhood.”
After discovering the body, police secured the scene and conducted a canvass of the area to try to locate potential witnesses. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Alexandria police at 703-838-4711. “We’ve not made any arrests or identified any suspects,” Bertsch said.
Man Survived After Being Shot
A shooting in the early morning hours of March 17 left an Alexandria teenager critically wounded and in need of emergency surgery. At 3:05 a.m., Alexandria Police officers were dispatched to the 900 block of First Street, where they discovered the wounded teenager.
Police say that he had been standing in a nearby alleyway when he was shot multiple times. He was transported to Inova Alexandria Hospital and then flown via helicopter to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
“Though his injuries were serious, he is expected to survive,” Bertsch said. “We’re still investigating, and we haven’t established a motive yet.”
Reports of gunfire in the same block were made to police on Monday evening. Officers confirmed shots had been fired but could find no victim or suspect.
Seven Arrested for DWI
Alexandria Police stepped up enforcement of drunk driving laws on the evening of March 17 making seven arrests for driving while intoxicated and issuing 62 tickets for moving violations and or carrying an open container.
The DWI crackdown began around 9 p.m. and continued into the early morning hours on Saturday, March 18.
Additional officers had been assigned to patrol major corridors, targeting motorists who commited hazardous moving violations and exhibited other behaviors which may indicate a driver is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.