Popular – Page 9 – Watchful Eye

Fairfax runaway who closed all Fredericksburg schools ARRESTED out of state

21Mar

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Fairfax runaway who closed all Fredericksburg schools ARRESTED out of state

All five Fredericksburg City Public Schools were closed Friday, March 21, due to a wanted 16-year-old from Fairfax. Fasihullah Safar, who lives in Alexandria, was reported missing by his family on March 17, according to Fairfax County Police Department. On Wednesday, March 19, a school resource officer saw him at James Monroe High School in Fredericksburg. The school system said when the SRO approached him, he fled. A search was conducted in the area but he wasn’t found. In an update, Fairfax PD noted that when the Fredericksburg SRO saw Safar he was “behaving suspiciously.” “We believe there are potential safety and security concerns with this individual’s mental state. In an abundance of caution, Fredericksburg City Public Schools were closed Friday, March 21st,” a statement ...

Murder charges announced for James City County suspects

20Mar

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Murder charges announced for James City County suspects

Second degree murder has been added to the list of charges for the man and woman accused of killing 67-year-old Jose Medellin in James City County. On January 31, shortly after 2 p.m., JCCPD officers responded to Diascund Reservoir Road for a report of an assault in progress and reportedly found a woman outside the residence with visible injuries. Inside they found Medellin unresponsive. JCCPD said officers immediately began lifesaving measures until medical units arrived, but by 3 p.m., Medellin was pronounced dead. Less than four hours later, JCCPD said investigators determined the death was linked to a robbery and assault that occurred the night before, January 30, in the same vicinity, and Harley James McClure Hutchins, 29, and Amber Nicole Johnson, 28, were arrested. Both...

Big Stone Gap cop killer gets 2nd 100-year sentence

14Mar

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Big Stone Gap cop killer gets 2nd 100-year sentence

Michael Donivan White, the South Carolina man who pulled the trigger and killed Michael Chandler, a Big Stone Gap police officer, just got sentenced to another 100 years in prison. A fatal call Chandler was killed on November 13, 2021. Around 4 a.m. that morning, he responded to a welfare check at a place known locally as “the red house.” Virginia State Police said it was well known to law enforcement for civil disturbances, warrants, welfare checks, overdoses, assaults, and drug activity. When Chandler arrived, he parked on the street, walked up to a car in the driveway, and knocked on the window with his flashlight. White, who was in the passenger seat, told his girlfriend, Misty Ward, to pull off because there were drugs in the car, and he wasn’t going back to jail. Wa...

Claytor Lake State Park resumes normal operations after months of Helene cleanup

5Mar

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Claytor Lake State Park resumes normal operations after months of Helene cleanup

The job required modular barges, tugboats, and excavators, not to mention time, but the post-Hurricane Helene debris removal at Claytor Lake State Park in Dublin is complete, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) announced this week. Claytor Lake was one of nine Virginia State Parks DCR closed in 2024 due to severe damage from Hurricane Helene. Claytor Lake after cleanup (Photo: DCR) “The cleanup of Claytor Lake is a testament to the resilience and dedication of our federal and state agencies, park rangers and community members,” said DCR Director Matt Wells. The department noted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), FEMA, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Friends of Claytor Lake, and DCR contributed to completion of the mission to get park c...

Unanimous: VA lawmakers want to limit sheriffs using shackles on children in court

21Feb

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Unanimous: VA lawmakers want to limit sheriffs using shackles on children in court

Virginia lawmakers have had enough of sheriffs abusing the ability to use shackles on children in court. Now, the question is whether Governor Glenn Youngkin will sign a bill into law that limits the practice. “Virginia law currently allows indiscriminate shackling of children in court. Children are forced to appear weighted down by handcuffs, leg irons, and belly chains,” Senator Lamont Bagby told colleagues in the Committee for Courts of Justice. He acknowledged that the overwhelming number of jurisdictions do not shackle youth at all. But there are about four jurisdictions across the state that shackle every child, he told members of the committee. “The goal of this is remedy the challenge of jurisdictions abusing the ability to shackle children in courtrooms,” he said. Babg...

Military & foreign service spouses exempt from federal return-to-work order

16Feb

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Military & foreign service spouses exempt from federal return-to-work order

Federal employees married to active-duty service members and U.S. Foreign Service members working overseas are exempt from President Trump’s return to work order, according to guidance issued by the U.S. Office of Personal Management (OPM) on Wednesday. That OPM memo also made clarified that federal employers can continue to offer remote jobs to military spouse in those categories. “Agencies should accordingly ensure that their return-to-office plans categorically exempt all military spouses authorized to engage in remote work,” the memo to agency and department heads stated. SAVE ON PURCHASES! GET BETTER DELIVERY OPTIONS! Military spouses covered by this guidance include spouses of members performing full-time National Guard duties, the memo states. It includes spouses of ...

Family offering $40K reward for info on Wakefield double shooting

12Feb

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Family offering $40K reward for info on Wakefield double shooting

Sussex County Sheriff’s Office announced the family of two October 2024 shooting victims is offering a $40,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case. SCSO said, on October 24, at about 11:49 p.m., the office received a call reporting a person shot at a residence on East Church Street in Wakefield. Information gathered suggested two people went into the home and shot two residents, the office added. With the announcement of the family’s reward offer, Sussex police reissued its Attempt to Locate poster for the two individuals shown in the images above. Those images show two persons of interest crossing the parking lot of a business in Wakefield, coming from the Pocahantas area, heading toward East Church Street at approximately 11:39 p.m. then r...

Mother and 3 children killed in murder/suicide in Chesapeake

7Feb

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Mother and 3 children killed in murder/suicide in Chesapeake

Chesapeake Police Department revealed that those killed in a February 6th “murder/suicide” were a mother and her three children. CPD reported that at approximately 6:54 a.m. on Thursday morning, officers responded to a welfare check at a residence in the 3000 block of Welcome Road. The officers made contact with the occupant who was barricaded and armed, according to police. According to CPD, officers immediately established a perimeter and attempted to negotiate. Meanwhile, SWAT and hostage negotiators were dispatched to the scene. Later in the incident, authorities were made aware that there were children inside who were potentially injured or dead. “Given the urgency, the SWAT team conducted an emergency entry,” CPD stated. By the time officers made entry, they found three ...

Massachusetts 16-year-old convicted as adult of attempted murder in Virginia

6Feb

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Massachusetts 16-year-old convicted as adult of attempted murder in Virginia

Yesterday, Feb. 5, Jose Rodriguez, a 16-year-old Massachusetts resident charged as an adult, was found guilty of attempted 1st degree murder in Smyth County, VA. That conviction stemmed from a July 2024 incident where Rodriguez attacked a gas station attendant with a fixed blade knife at the Chilhowie Exxon, noted Smyth County Commonwealth’s Attorney Phillip Blevins. After stabbing the employee, Rodriguez, who was 15 at the time and a runaway, went on the run with the intention of leaving the county, Chilhowie Police Chief Andrew K. Moss reported. But the teen was caught in Tennessee. A Tennessee trooper saw a car swerving saw the driver had a cellphone in hand, explained Moss. When the trooper tried to make a traffic stop, the driver, which was Rodriguez, started a police chase b...

Body of 19-year-old missing from Westmoreland found in Essex

30Jan

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Body of 19-year-old missing from Westmoreland found in Essex

The body of Gabriella Watkins, a 19-year-old who went missing in early December, has been located, Westmoreland County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. As previously reported, Watkins had been missing since December 6. She was found Tuesday, January 28, amid an “extensive search” of an Essex County property that involved six local and state agencies, WCSO reported. A search warrant had been obtained for a large tract of land adjacent to Church Hill Road and Desha Road, WCSO revealed. Authorities began the operation about 8 a.m. and a body was located at approximately 11:50 a.m. Desha Rd & Church Hill Rd aerial view (Photo: Google Earth) Intersection of Church Hill (straight) and Desha (left) (Photo: Google Earth) It was announced that the body was being transported to the chi...