The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
Alexandria Homicide:
Alexandria City Police are investigating the murder of 24-year-old Juantissa Hill.
Her body was found yesterday in an apartment at the 300 block of S. Van Dorn Street. Police were called to the apartment for a welfare check after Hill did not report to work for two days.
Hill's brother, Cravis Hill, confirms to News 4 that Juantissa was a Petty Officer with the Navy and worked at the Pentagon.
Police are also trying to locate Hill's car it's described as a Gray or Silver, 4-door, 2006 Nissan Altima with tinted windows bearing Michigan registration, BDE 4058.
Illegal Immigration and Crime:
In the wake of public outcry over three recent homicides allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, Montgomery County State's Attorney John J. McCarthy, the county police chief and other county leaders are looking closely at stricter guidelines for handling suspects of serious crimes who are in the country illegally.
In at least two cases, the suspects are illegal immigrants who had previously been released from custody for other crimes. The director of the county corrections department said that eight of the 16 murder suspects currently in custody have federal immigration warrants against them. (Gazette.net)
Retailers Maintain Holiday Cheer:
Despite this week's confirmation that the country is indeed in a recession, and the gloom-and-doom predictions about massive cutbacks in consumer spending, area retailers are holding onto their holiday spirit.
Black Friday weekend spending was actually up about 7 percent nationwide over last year, according to a National Retail Federation survey, and local businesses say they haven't seen the projected decline in spending yet, although it is too early to tell for sure. (FairfaxTimes.com)
Man Shoots TV:
Apparently, some critics resort to guns to make their opinion known.
Case in point, according to the Sheriff's Office, is Frederick Donaldson, of Sterling.
Just before 10 p.m. Dec. 2, Donaldson, 41, upset that his roommate was playing heavy metal music, fired a shotgun round at the stereo but hit the television instead, authorities said.
Some of the buckshot went out through his residence and into another home. There were no injuries associated with this incident, which occurred in the 10000 block of Ironwood Road in Sterling Park.
Donaldson was arrested without further incident and charged with firing a gun inside an occupied dwelling.
He remains held on the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on a $5,000 bond, authorities said. (Loudoun Times-Mirror)
