Suspect arrested in fatal shooting of 14-year-old in Herndon hotel's parking lot

The suspect accused of killing a 14-year-old boy in Herndon, Virginia, turned himself in, Fairfax County police announced Friday.

The victim was a student at Westfield High school in Chantilly.

Police said 18-year-old Ismael Cruz-Delcid fatally shot the boy Wednesday afternoon in a hotel parking lot in the 13700 block of Coppermine Road.

Police released the name of the suspect Thursday amid a continued manhunt. Cruz-Delcid, of Herndon, turned himself in late that night after contacting a lawyer and negotiating a plan to surrender, authorities announced Friday. He is being held without bond on a second-degree murder charge, among other charges.

"The life of a 14-year-old child was simply not lost the other day. It was taken by a gunman who intentionally shot and killed one of our children," Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.

Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid said they focused on extra counseling Friday at Westfield High, which the victim attended, and also at Herndon High, where students knew the victim.

"Any time a student’s life is taken before [their] time, it's a tremendous loss for us, and the proliferation, really. of gun violence with our youth is a significant challenge for us across the country," Reid said.

The alleged gunman had graduated recently from Fairfax County’s Mountain View alternative high school.

Witnesses said a confrontation among three teenagers led to the shooting Wednesday shortly before 4 p.m. According to Fairfax County police, Cruz-Delcid drove to a hotel parking lot and got into a physical fight with two other teens, the 14-year-old and a 16-year-old.

"All of them started kicking each other," a witness told our partner station, Telemundo 44, in Spanish. "When I saw this, I began yelling at them, 'What’s going on? What’s happening?'"

Police say Cruz-Delcid then pulled out a gun and fired three shots, two of which struck the 14-year-old. The victim was rushed to a hospital, where he died. His name has not been publicly released by police because he is a minor.

The gunshots missed the 16-year-old, who was able to identify the suspect to police.

The three of them did know each other, police said Friday, and they're investigating whether the altercation was planned. Law enforcement sources said the shooter and the other teens were associated with groups who had been feuding. Investigators are going through social media and tech to look into the intent and the connections among the three.

"We believe there was ongoing verbal disputes," Fairfax County Deputy Police Chief Brooke Wright said. "We don’t know if [there were] any prior physical altercations between the parties, but they were definitely known to each other."

Cruz-Delcid ran off after the shooting, leaving his Honda Civic behind, police said.

A witness told Telemundo 44 they were pulling into the parking lot and saw someone running away and another person on the ground.

Another witness said she was steps away from where the shooting happened.

"I heard kids, like, kind of yelling, but you know, there are kids that walk all through here around that time, anyway," Herndon resident Violet Vicks said. "And it sounded like a couple of boys, maybe, or men yelling at each other, but I wasn’t really paying attention, and then I heard, I only heard two pops, but I thought that it was, like, a car backfiring. I don't know. I didn’t really process what it was.”

Cruz-Delcid did not make a statement to police when he turned himself in Thursday night.

'I can't imagine anything more devastating for that kid’s family'

There was a massive police response to Wednesday's shooting with several heavily armed officers on the scene, and more officers on site the following day. The shooter was believed to have fled toward Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School, which was locked down as police searched the area.

“We have a teenager who’s dead and shouldn’t be,” Wright said Wednesday. “I can’t imagine anything more devastating for that kid’s family. So, we take that very, very seriously. And obviously, the suspect, we know, was armed with a firearm. So, because of that, yes, we’re going to have heavily, heavily armed officers that are searching for that suspect, who we believe could be dangerous to them if encountered.”

Police said that victim specialists from their Major Crimes Bureau’s Victim Services Division were helping the victim's family.