Manassas Journal Messenger | Gang member faces charges in murder plot
A 17-year-old Romanian boy who lives in a Woodbridge town house is suspected of conspiring to kill an Arlington detective, according to a warrant affidavit.
The boy is a member of the 18th Street Gang, according to the affidavit. The gang originated in Los Angeles in the 1960s and is growing nationwide, according to experts.
An Arlington County detective assigned to investigate the alleged murder plot “overheard a conversation” between the gang’s known members Sept. 3, according to the affidavit. It does not say how he listened in.
During the conversation the 17-year-old boy described being driven to an area in which his target works. He intended to kill the detective with an AK-47 loaded with hollow-point bullets, according to the affidavit.
Another gang member said the 17-year-old boy and other members tried to fight the detective, who was “[expletive] with the homeboys.”
During the conversation the boy said he keeps a gun in his Woodbridge home.
On Sept. 17, Prince William police officers seized from the home ammunition that was under a drawer in the boy’s bedroom.
They also seized a cellular camera phone that had pictures of the boy holding a pump-action shotgun in front of a fireplace not in his house.
The affidavit does not list the boy’s address.
Prince William police would not comment because Arlington County is running the investigation. Officers there could not be reached Monday.
The boy told police he got the ammunition for the AK-47 from another man and identified that person to police.
Officers searched the 20-year-old man’s town house at 12937 Freestone Point, where they found a fireplace, a skull on its mantle, and a Puerto Rican flag to its right.
The fireplace matched the photos from the boy’s cell phone.
A search warrant inventory for the house was unavailable.