Man sentenced for pursuit and drug bust; Loudoun County apartment evacuated over unsafe conditions

Off the top tonight, a gun discovered inside of a box of Halloween candy at a local school, and now an investigation underway into how it got there. Yeah, that's our big story tonight here at 10. Sydney Persing's live outside of KIPP DC Grow Academy with everything we know. Sydney? Yeah, well, look, this was obviously a very disturbing discovery, and there are a lot of questions tonight about how a gun even got inside this school in the first place. But what we do know is that it was a staff member preparing to hand out candy from a box. When he or she discovered a gun was inside, D.C. police, they confirmed to Fox 5 tonight that they arrived here just before 3 p.m. today. This is, as you mentioned, KIPP D.C. Grow Academy, a public charter school here on P Street Northwest. It is for very young kids. We're talking pre-K and kindergarten students. Officers say they received a report of a found gun. They came here, recovered it, and they say so far no arrests have been made tonight. You can only imagine what it felt like for the parents here to receive this letter from the school today. Which was shared with us by a KIPP family, the school wrote to parents in part while preparing to distribute a box of candy, a staff member discovered a firearm inside. In a statement tonight, KIPP told us, Fox 5. A staff member at KIPP DC Grow Academy found a firearm inside a box of candy today. Staff immediately followed safety procedures, secured the firearm, and notified the Metropolitan Police Department. All students and staff remained safe, and no students came into contact with that firearm. We are grateful to our staff for their quick and careful response. Jim and Angie, obviously, again, there are just so many questions tonight. How a gun got inside this school? And in a box of Halloween candy, we are working to get those answers from the school and also from D.C. police. And as soon as we have more information, we will update you on air and online. Jim, Angie. Sydney, thank you. To Prince George's County, where three people were killed in just a matter of hours today. Just before 11 this morning, a landscaping worker found a man's body in the woods in Langley Park. The victim had suffered trauma to his upper body. Police still don't know how long his body had been there. This comes after two other deadly attacks just an hour apart. Around 4.15 this morning, a man was found fatally stabbed inside of a home in College Park. Then around 5.15, another man was found shot to death in Landover. But violent crime happens, it affects all of us. The thing about these ones is I will say, wanna let our community know they appear to be isolated incidents. We don't think these acts were random at all. So the community is not in danger. There's not people out just randomly committing these murders. But it's something that we want people to pay attention to and we really just want people to give us any information that they may have regarding these cases. No word yet on any suspects in any of the three cases. In the district, the search now underway for the suspect in a shooting today in Petworth. Police responding to Princeton Place Northwest. It was around 4 p.m. where they found a man who'd been shot. Officers say that he was not breathing when he was taken to the hospital. Still, there is no suspect information available at this time. New details tonight after a deadly string of shootings in Northeast D.C. ended with police opening fire on a suspect. Police say that the man who was shot by an officer is the one who shot and killed another person just minutes before. It all happened around 5 o'clock this morning on Minnesota Avenue. That suspect now facing a long list of charges, including murder. He remains in the hospital. About 20 minutes later, there was a call that came out for an individual waving a firearm in a parking lot in the 3900 block of Minnesota Avenue. When officers arrived on the scene as they were exiting their vehicle, they saw a suspect who was actually pointing and then fired around at another individual who was there. One of our officers discharged his firearm, striking that suspect. No officers were hurt, and it's still not clear what led to the original shooting or if the victim and suspect even knew one another. An alleged burglar brought to justice with the help of an automated license plate reader. But that arrest comes as cities and counties throughout the region opt to shut down the technology, in part due to privacy concerns. Fox 5's Josh Rosenthal joins us live from McLean tonight with both sides of this debate. Josh. Guys, let's start here in Fairfax County where police say that automated license plate readers like Flock Cameras are doing big things for them. They are helping police keep people safe. Our officers and our detectives rely on this technology every day to solve and prevent crime. It has become an essential law enforcement tool that has a direct impact on the public safety of Fairfax County. And that includes in this most recent case. Police say they've arrested 73-year-old Michael Spolino of Alexandria. He's accused of breaking into a home Tuesday morning. We're told the homeowner saw it happen through a home security camera and gave police a description of the suspect and his vehicle. Then, police say they used automated license plate reader technology to locate Spolino's car, make the arrest, and they add that they recovered evidence linking Spolino to other burglaries outside of Fairfax County. But the tech itself, which captures license plate numbers, also the time, date, and location that you drive by, is controversial. For instance, the city of Alexandria is choosing to shut down its 61 flock cameras by tomorrow night, in part due to privacy concerns. Also, last month, the Arlington County Board voted to remove dozens of the cameras there. Meanwhile, you've got stories like this one from the Washington Post, which details allegations of police keeping access to Flock surveillance system long after they left the force. Back in Fairfax County Thursday, residents we talked to gave the technology mixed reviews. I don't like them. You can't drive in well. They see where you're going. To me, it's an invasion of privacy. I think it's a good idea. I think it's helpful to law enforcement, so I'm in favor of it. In the Fairfax burglary case, we did try several times to reach the suspect, Spolino, but we weren't immediately successful. Thanks for watching. Casper. All right, time to get a check on our weather as we take a live look at Leonardtown tonight. Not too much happening out there. Cool and calm once again. Mike Thomas here with the first check of the forecast at 10 o'clock. Yeah, guys, nice day today and yet cooling down this evening across the D.C. region after yet another October day in the 70s. 71 in D.C. and D.C. was the cool spot. You see Dulles hit 73, BWI Thurgood-Marshall 72 this afternoon, average high 65. So well below average today and temps outside or above average, excuse me, having a below average day in a little bit here in Washington. Temps outside today or at this time actually. above where they should be for this time of year, for this time of night. Still hanging on the 57, Fairfax. D.C.'s at 60, Waldorf 58, Colonial Beach 55, Montrose 54. Reva and Glen Burnie both sitting at 58 degrees. Clarksville 57, Leesburg 59, Lovettsville 58. One more hay market down in Prince William County. You're at 53 degrees right now. Satellite and radar. Not showing you much across the immediate D.C. area. We had those early morning fog advisories that were especially in our western zones this morning. Once again, inundated by some fog early today. But those clouds quickly burned off, just like we promised you they would. And now skies are mostly clear. Now, there is a cold front to the north and to the west. You see it's got some showers along it. But we've got high pressure. Those H's right there, they're still in control across the D.C. area. That's a lot of sinking air, which rain showers don't like. So as that front gets closer, those rain showers and even the clouds with it expect. We're expected to dissipate, and tomorrow is going to be another sunny day here in Washington. So bus stop forecast for you. Still going to want the long sleeves early tomorrow morning. Won't be quite as chilly as the last few. D.C. about 53 degrees, and a lot of our suburbs actually starting tomorrow off in more of the 50s versus the 40s. And then could you ask for a better Friday forecast? Last Friday in the month of October, and we're talking about 75 degrees for a high temperature. Forget about that 10% rain risk. Barely going to be a cloud in the sky tomorrow. Sun sets at 610. Enjoy that because big changes in the sunset time, as of course, you know, this weekend. We'll talk about that in the Halloween forecast, all in just a few. Jim and Angie. Thank you, Mike. More top stories that we're following right now. A new trial date for the man accused of trying to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Cole Allen is scheduled to face a jury September 7th of next year. He appeared in court this morning for a pretrial conference. The judge says one more hearing is expected in December. The prosecution expected to present its case Monday in the Naresh Bhat murder trial in Prince William County. Today, jurors looked at banking and credit card records belonging to Bhat's wife, Monita Koffel, whom he's accused of killing. Prosecutors highlighted her final Uber charges back in July of 2024, noting the account soon accrued late fees after her disappearance. Witnesses testified the couple didn't share those accounts. Testimony resumes Monday morning at 9 a.m. A man is headed to prison for 10 years following a high-speed chase and a major drug bust in Arlington County. Police say that Jeffrey Asari reached speeds of 110 miles per hour in his car on 395 last November before crashing. Officers recovered more than 300 grams of carfentanil, a deadly synthetic opioid, from his vehicle. Some 55 people out of a home tonight after a Loudoun County apartment building had to be evacuated due to unsafe conditions. Officials issued the unsafe structure order to the Purcellville East Apartments on North 16th Street. Fire and Rescue says they got a call for service earlier this week and when crews got there, they found safety hazards including damaged staircases. Everybody on the second floor in this entire community is being put into hotels. Right now, the county is funding that. Thank goodness the county has come out and stepped in. in. But it is a matter of getting them, like I was saying before, resources, gas cards, food, ways to transport themselves back and forth. Their children now have to get special buses to go to school. It is uprooting their entire lives within literally five hours. No timeline when people will be allowed back into their homes. A grassroots group in Prince William County demanding a moratorium on data centers. The Coalition to Protect Prince William County launched a petition asking the Board of Supervisors to pause any new data center development for the next year. They hope that that time could be used to develop policies to address issues connected to data centers. Their major concerns include the noise, pollution from backup diesel generators, and also rising electricity bills. We need some semblance of sanity. And the only way we're going to achieve that is with a pause. There are data center applications going through the planning office right now. It is incomprehensible. Prince William County's data center dashboard currently lists 59 data center buildings in the county. Another 82 projects are either in planning or construction phase, and 15 data center applications are still pending. D.C. Councilmember Robert White says he will resign his at-large seat Monday, one day before the election. White is the Democratic nominee to replace Eleanor Holmes Norton as D.C.'s delegate to Congress, but a little-known 1970 law says the delegate cannot They cannot hold another paid public office on Election Day. White says he disagrees with the interpretation of the law, but says he won't risk his eligibility. The resignation ends 10 years on council and sets the stage for a special election to fill that seat next year. Caught on camera. Watch as a deer. Whoa! I know, poor thing. Come smashing. Right through the front glass of a business. This was in Northern Virginia. All happened this morning at Ace Vacuums in Fairfax. Man, not a graceful exit either. That guy left. Rather swiftly, though. So this happened in Fairfax. The deer ran around the store, as you saw, before it made its way on out. Nobody was hurt. We've seen this time and time again, I think because they don't see the glass, right? So it's like a bird that hits it. By the way, when you talk about a fortuitous place to break into, a vacuum business would be the place. I mean, you're right. They've got easy access to cleanup. For sure.