Fairfax County police said shootings at meetings of Capital Mischief, a car group, may be connected.
December 31, 2022 at 12:44 p.m. ESTFairfax County police said Friday that three shootings linked to car meetups appear to be connected, after organizers of a meetup Tuesday night said a group was shot at with an air rifle.
Police said officers were in a parking lot in the 5500 block of Leesburg Pike at 8:46 p.m. Tuesday. After the officers cleared the lot, they discovered that several vehicles had been struck and that two people had suffered minor injuries.Police said they’re still piecing together what happened, but a group called Capital Mischief, which organizes regular meetups called Taco Tuesday, said in social media posts that the shots appeared to come from a nearby apartment building.
“We are deeply saddened by what happened last night & will be taking steps to ensure you & your cars safety at every [taco] tuesday moving forward,” organizers Capital Mischief wrote on Instagram.On Friday, police said they were treating the recent incident as connected to others in July and September. The first happened on the evening of July 16 at the same location. Police responded after someone reported his vehicle had been hit by a projectile as he was leaving a meetup.
Then on the morning of Sept. 23 officers went to the 3500 block of South Jefferson Street, which is near the parking lot, after two people said their cars had been struck by gunfire. No one was hurt in that incident, police said. Another car meetup took place Friday night in Woodbridge. A spokesman for the Prince William County police said no incidents were reported.