A police officer was shot and wounded and a suspect was fatally shot after gunfire erupted early Monday inside a hotel and on residential streets of Old Town Alexandria. For more than an hour, residents of several blocks were told to stay inside and lock their doors and windows.
An Alexandria Police Department officer was in fair condition after being shot in the lower body, Lt. Courtney Ballantine said at a news conference later Monday.
Someone suspected of opening fire on officers was shot and killed. That person’s name was not immediately released.
Alexandria police received a call at about 5 a.m. reporting gunshots inside the Holiday Inn & Suites Alexandria - Old Town, in the 600 block of First Street. The hotel is on the north end of Old Town and a few blocks from the Potomac River.
Officers began to investigate an armed robbery at the hotel and established a perimeter outside as they looked for suspects. Two people involved in the shooting fled on foot.
Dozens of officers and investigators fanned out across the area.
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About 5:50 a.m. an officer chased someone about two blocks away and they exchanged shots at Second and Royal streets. It’s there that the officer was shot.
The suspect ran, and police kept searching. At 6:24 a.m. officers and a K-9 found a suspect and “more shots were exchanged,” Ballantine said.
Then, the suspect stopped shooting. Officers took a safe position, waited for daylight and found the person's body at Montgomery and Fairfax streets.
The suspect, Michael K. Nelson, 27, of Fairfax County, died at the scene, according to Virginia State Police.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the suspect was killed by police or died of a self-inflicted wound, Ballantine said. The investigation is ongoing and Virginia State Police are assisting.
Residents in several blocks were told at 7:30 a.m. to stay indoors with their doors and windows locked. The “stay-in-place order” was lifted at about 8:45 a.m. It applied to homes between Bashford Lane and Montgomery Street, from N. Washington Street to the river.
A second suspect, 26-year-old Mitchell D. Thompson, turned himself in to Virginia State Police later Monday, police said. He is in police custody and charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Additional charges are pending, police said.
No one inside the hotel was hurt, police said.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
