Two sought in unrelated shootings

Prince William County police are investigating two separate shootings over the weekend that left two men injured neither fatally according to Sgt. Kim Chinn, a spokeswoman for county police.

Shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday, an assailant in a white van fired shots at a 24-year-old man while he was driving in the 7200 block of Centreville Road, Chinn said. One of the bullets struck the victim in the leg, sending him to the hospital.

“[The victim] was leaving the area of Mexico Lindo (at 8630 Mathis Ave.) with some other friends AND they noticed on their ride that a van with four to five people were following them,” Chinn said Monday. “The van continued to tailgate them up [Va.] 28. [The victim] pulled into the Amoco station just prior to the Fairfax County line … [and then] the white van pulled up along side them and someone shot at his car.”

Centreville Road Amoco station manager Javaid Haroom, who contended that the car was fired upon in the street and not in his stores parking lot, said that the victim entered his store to call the police.

“The store is open 24 hours, and we were the only store that was open at the time,” Haroom said. “We were pretty upset that this happened here.”

The victim was taken to Prince William Hospital, where he was treated and released, Chinn said. Police provided no description of the shooter, but did say that they were following a number of leads.

A little more than 24 hours later, a 33-year-old Maryland man suffered a gunshot wound to the chest during an argument with an acquaintance inside an apartment in the 8800 block of Teakwood Court, Chinn said.

Antwan Maurice Gaskins, 18, of that address, is wanted on charges of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony after he pulled a gun on the victim and pulled the trigger around 4:45 a.m., Chinn said. Gaskins, who is described as a 5 feet 11 inches tall, black, weighing 150 pounds, was found guilty of two counts of misdemeanor assault and battery for an incident on Feb. 26, 2001, according to court documents.

The men, who were arguing about money, began fighting physically when Gaskins shot the man, Chinn added. The victim was taken to Prince William Hospital and treated for a non-life-threatening injury.

These shootings came just days after police arrested a Dumfries man for a shooting in Woodbridge that hit no one, according to past police statements.