A 27-year-old man was arrested after a young Marine was shot to death outside a Woodbridge, Virginia, restaurant and bar early Thursday.
Horace Gene Clark, of Woodbridge, was arrested Saturday and charged with a firearms offense and murder, police said.
Kalin Robinson, 25, was shot as he exited the Babylon Café on Golansky Boulevard, police say.
Clark fled the scene. The shooting was not random, police said.
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Robinson was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the parking lot of the shopping center.
He was stationed at Quantico and was a husband and father.
“If you were a person who needed a friend or help, he was that type of guy,” friend Kevin Scott said. “He stood by his friends tremendously … A lot of Marines loved him; a lot of people supported him.”
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The violence marks the third homicide outside the Babylon Café in the Springwood shopping center in five years. A man was shot and killed in May 2016, and there was a fatal stabbing in July 2020. A few months ago, a man was shot but survived.
Others who have businesses at Springwood say the incidents are frightening.
“As a business owner here, it’s not good; it’s not good for business, either,” said Sayed Howaidi, who owns a halal store.
“Right now, we’re exploring ways that we can look into what options we have, basically, regarding the establishment and the safety of those patrons,” Perok said.
Police are still searching for the gunman.
Virginia ABC officers said they are doing their own investigation of the Babylon Café.
