A third man is in custody following a double shooting at Manassas Mall, and a third is wanted.

Eric Ronaldo Benitez, 22, of Croce Court, near Manassas is in custody. The second suspect, Tayvion Omari Thornton, 18, of Cove Landing Drive in Woodbridge, is wanted.

Benitez is charged with two counts of malicious wounding, 1 count of willfully discharging a firearm in a public place, and one count of using a gun in the commission of a felony.

Police said Thornton is black, six feet tall, 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He’s wanted for two for carrying a concealed weapon, one count of willfully discharging a firearm in a public place, and one count of using a gun in the commission of a felony.

The latest arrests bring the total facing charges in the July 9 shooting to five. Daevon Russell and Joshuah Minas Hernandez, both 18 and from Manassas, were arrested shortly after the shooting and were charged with multiple counts, including malicious wounding and shooting at an occupied building. Additionally, Skyler James Agley, 23, also from Manassas, was charged with similar offenses and remains hospitalized.

An investigation revealed that two groups met near the food court of a mall, where a physical altercation ensued, leading to a shootout in the parking lot. A 23-year-old man involved in the altercation and an uninvolved 51-year-old bystander were injured and treated at a hospital, with both expected to survive.

Shooting suspect was out on bail

Russell, one of the men charged, was out on bail facing judgment for previously committed crimes. Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega is questioning why he was released to allegedly commit another crime.

“Why are serious offenders being released back into the community, straining our police department and wasting community resources?” asked Vega. “This appears to be a growing trend under the guise of ‘criminal justice reform,’ posing a threat to all of us.”

Russell is not a stranger to violent charges. In December 2023, he was charged with Reckless with a Gun Causing Permanent Serious Bodily Injury, a class 6 felony. His charges were later escalated to the Prince William County Circuit Court, where he was indicted on multiple counts, including Reckless Handling of a Firearm, Use of a Firearm in Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Firearm Under 18 Years Old, and Malicious Wounding.

We saw this earlier this year when we told you about Jose Rafael Lizama, a 47-year-old Manassas Park resident, who was driving in downtown Manassas late last year and was charged with striking and killing 39-year-old Justin Burns. Lizama was released from jail twice between his arrest date and his first court appearance in May.

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney on Daevon Russell

Potomac Local News interviewed the Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth (D) via email to gain insights into the judicial process and the factors considered in cases like Russell’s.

Risk Assessments and Release Conditions

When asked about risk assessments conducted before releasing Russell, the Commonwealth Attorney stated, “I cannot speak to individual cases that are pending before the Court. I can tell you that a risk assessment is typically conducted by Pre-trial Services and provided to the Court at the appropriate time. This assessment does not make a recommendation as to whether or not a person should be released. It simply sets forth the recommended conditions of release if the Judge grants the person release.”

Monitoring Measures and Compliance

Regarding measures to monitor suspects after release, the Attorney noted, “I cannot speak to individual cases that are pending before the Court. I can tell you that there are several different measures that a judge can take once the judge decides that the person should be released. Those include supervision by a pretrial officer, intensive supervision, GPS monitoring or electronic monitoring, house arrest, and reverse house arrest. They often order the person to abstain from alcohol or drug usage and be tested for the same, as well as to have no contact with certain people or places. They are often ordered not to possess any weapons.”

Justifications for Release Under Supervision

In response to questions about justifications for releasing individuals with records of violent charges, the Attorney said, “I cannot speak to any particular individual’s case that is pending before the Court. I can tell you that the Judges are not required to provide written justification for their release of an individual.”

Balancing Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform

On balancing public safety with criminal justice reform goals, the Attorney explained, “The Judges make the decision to release someone after considering the factor set forth in the Code and after hearing argument by the defense attorney and the prosecutor. The criminal justice system has never and could never hold everyone that is charged with a criminal offense. There is no magic way for the Judges to predict the future and know who will commit an offense while on bond and who won’t. They have to make the best decision with the information they have available at the time of the bond motion.”

Reviewing and Revising Policies

The Attorney clarified the county’s ability to change policies, stating, “The County cannot change the Code of Virginia, which sets forth the criteria that the Judges use to determine bond.”

Prince William County has allocated $346,000 in the FY2025 budget for contractual lobbying services to convince state legislators to change laws on behalf of County Supervisors, the County Executive, and various county departments and agencies. Many elected officials keep the numbers of state reps on their phones, making them a text message away.

Balmore Ortiz Guardado, 36, of Dale City, will spend at least 35 years in prison after Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Kimberly A. Irving sentenced him to a life sentence. Guardado was charged with drugging and raping women and girls.

From Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth’s office:

…the Defendant, a drug dealer, actively recruited and provided illegal substances to include Percocet pills laced with fentanyl, methamphetamines, cocaine, Xanax and alcohol to female victims aged 15-16, facilitating the sexual abuse and rape of the victims, often while they were incapacitated from the drug use or with the threat of a firearm. These acts occurred in late 2021 through 2022. The Defendant was arrested on January 26, 2023.

On January 17, 2024, the Defendant entered a guilty plea to fourteen charges as follows: three (3) counts of Rape, three counts (3) of Object Sexual Penetration, seven (7) counts of Distribution of a Schedule I or II to a Minor, and one (1) count of Possession of Child Pornography. There was no agreement as to the sentence to be imposed and a sentencing hearing to determine the appropriate punishment was held on June 27, 2024. The Defendant was ordered to register with the Virginia Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry.

Upon hearing the evidence and argument of both sides at the sentencing hearing, the Honorable the Defendant to six life sentences plus 215 years of incarceration with 179 years suspended (35 years of mandatory time). The Judge’s reasons for departing from the Sentencing Guidelines which recommended a sentence within the range of 35 to 86 years included “the violence of the crimes, the number of victims and the effect [of the crimes] on the victims, the use of a firearm, and the recommendation of the Commonwealth.”

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors has received an update on the county's Safe and Secure Communities Initiative, approved in 2022. The program, inspired by successful models in cities like Boston and Philadelphia, aims to address crime through a collaborative, data-driven approach involving multiple county departments, including police, fire and rescue, and the courts.

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Editors note: We blurred the faces of Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney's Office employees. We obtained and published the non-blurred image from a social media account maintained by a Commonwealth Attorney's Office employee. After publication, that employee asked us to remove the photo, citing the need to protect the employees' identities. 

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Prince William County’s Board of Supervisors easily approved the fiscal year 2025 budget with a few changes on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, to take effect on July 1.

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In a letter addressed to the Chair and the Supervisors of Prince William County, Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth outlined her intention to withhold prosecution of certain misdemeanor charges, effective May 1, 2024, if county leaders don’t give her more employees.

According to the letter, the Prince William County Prosecutor’s Office is operating with 26 fewer positions than required.  A recent time study showed the office has a deficit of seven attorneys and 19 administrative staff, Ashworth wrote.

On April 18, 2024, supervisors voted in a straw poll and decided to fund an additional four attorneys and four administrative staff for Ashworth’s office. Ashworth asked for 16 new people and asserted that the office cannot sustain its current level of service and must take steps to reduce the caseload. As it stands, Ashworth is set to receive $13 million from the county government to operate her office for the coming fiscal year, starting July 1, 2024. The figure does not include funding from Manassas and Manassas Park cities, for which Ashworth also prosecutes criminal cases.

In response to the straw poll, Ashworth wrote supervisors and listed a series of Class 1 and 2 misdemeanors to which she may no longer assign a prosecutor, including petit larceny, shoplifting, narcotic charges, underage alcohol offenses, disorderly conduct, obstruction of justice, escapes, obscenity, false identification and false report to police, destruction of property, trespassing, reckless driving (unless fatal), and all traffic and operator license misdemeanors.

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors is set to approve its entire FY 2025 budget tomorrow.

“The bottom line is that this office was not properly staffed and funded for decades as the County grew up around us,” Ashworth wrote in an email to Potomac Local. “The time study was able to finally give us a clear staffing standard across the state for all prosecutor’s offices.”

Ashworth, a Democrat, was re-elected to office in November 2023 and is in the first year of her second four-year term.

“The Commonwealth of Virginia does not fund prosecution of misdemeanor cases – only felonies. In smaller jurisdictions, it is easier for the prosecutor to just handle all the misdemeanors as well. However, other large jurisdictions do not handle all of the misdemeanors as [Prince William County] does,” Ashworth adds.

Acknowledging the impact of this decision, Ashworth emphasized the need to focus limited resources on misdemeanors deemed most critical, such as DUI, weapon offenses, and violent crime.

Ashworth’s threats to cut prosecutorial services garnered a quick response from supervisors.

“She claims her predecessor understaffed his office. I don’t recall anyone claiming Paul Ebert [Ashworth’s predecessor] didn’t prosecute enough. The question is efficiency. If Fairfax can do more with less, why can’t she?” asked Gainesville District Supervisor Bob Wier.

During a presentation earlier this month, Ashworth told the Board of County Supervisors that of her 54 office employees, 29 were prosecutors when she took over from her predecessor Paul Ebert, Virginia’s longest-serving prosecutor from 1968 until his retirement in 2019. Since that time dozens of full-time positions have been added to the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, resulting in nearly 80 employees.

“By supporting eight new positions in FY25, in addition to fulfilling the three-year staffing plan introduced by Ms. Ashworth in 2021, I am confident that this Board has provided the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney with the necessary resources to fulfill its prosecutorial duties to our residents,” said Occoquan District Supervisor Kenny Boddye. “These new positions will make our Commonwealth’s Attorney office the largest in Virginia, eclipsing even the staffing levels of Fairfax County, which serves more than two times as many residents.”

Since she took over, the Board of County Supervisors has increased funding for her office by $6.4 million and added 32 employees. This represents a cumulative percentage increase of about 93.5% over five years. All the while, Ashworth is pursuing fewer cases than her predecessor, choosing to indict 75 felonies on average per month compared to the 350-per-month average Ebert pursued.

Despite Ashworth having successfully lobbied to increase her office budget to the largest it has ever been in county history, she has the fewest average prosecutions of her predecessors. Meanwhile, the county’s murder rate has doubled, and violent crime increased by 70% since 2019.

In a letter to constituents, Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega called Ashworth’s letter a “dangerous temper tantrum” describing it as “a stain on the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office and unbecoming of an elected official.” She also questioned how a 2% increase in caseload could represent a $2 million budget request.

Both Weir and Vega pointed to neighboring Fairfax County, which cut misdemeanor prosecutions and has subsequently seen a rise in overall crime, with Vega rhetorically asking, “How has that worked out for them?”

In addition to the potential for increased crime in Prince William, the change would also increase the workload of Prince William County Police officers. In her letter, Ashworth clarified that while her office will no longer prosecute these offenses, the burden of prosecution will shift to the arresting police officer, who must handle traditional prosecutor duties such as subpoenaing witnesses, answering discovery, and presenting evidence in court.

“There will be an additional burden on the department in that we will need to train officers on how to do the legal courtroom work traditionally done by the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office,” said Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham. “This will also likely result in officers spending more time in court and less time in the community.”

Newsham added that there likely would be a “negative impact on conviction rates during the learning curve.” adding, “Our officers are committed, dedicated, and professional, but they are not lawyers.”

“I don’t think this board responds well to threats and Prince William County does not have an unlimited source of revenue,” Weir added when asked if Ashworth’s threats would lead to him consider changing his vote. “We’re growing the government at a level that is unsustainable given the revenues.”

The Board of County Supervisors meets at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at the McCoart County Government Building, 1 County Complex Court in Woodbridge. The meeting is open to the public and will be streamed online.

Alan Gloss is a freelance reporter for Potomac Local News.

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Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth ruled a fatal police shooting at a union worker training center justified.

An independent criminal investigation into the shooting and the moments that led up to shots fired on Feb. 13, 2024, an alteration began in a classroom inside the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). In this apprenticeship training center, several students had assembled for a class.

In a seemingly unprovoked attack, the suspect, Philip Austin Brant, 26, of Woodbridge, approached one victim, identified as a 23-year-old Fairfax man, and pulled a knife from a backpack before repeatedly stabbing the victim. The other students present inside the room dispersed as the victim attempted to separate from Brant, who continued the attack.

At one point, Brant exited the classroom where he encountered and repeatedly stabbed a second victim, 23-year-old Elijah Islam Safadi of Manassas, in a hallway. As officers arrived, Brant moved to the front entrance lobby of the building, where he eventually encountered officers who shot him, according to details released in a March 28, 2024, police report.

The initial stabbing victim collapsed inside the classroom where the altercation began, while Safadi exited the building before collapsing in the parking lot. Emergency crews rushed both to area hospitals with multiple stab wounds, where Safadi died from his injuries. The surviving victim suffered critical injuries.

The investigation was conducted by the regional Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT), which is comprised of investigators from multiple law enforcement agencies in Northern Virginia. No members of the Prince William County Police Department were involved in the investigation led by CIRT.

Here’s the full report.

The Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Amy Ashworth, has announced the successful prosecution of Isaiah McGriff in connection with the July 2022 murder of a woman in Woodbridge. On March 12, 2024, a Prince William County jury found McGriff guilty of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The case, Commonwealth of Virginia v. Isaiah McGriff, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Commonwealth Attorneys Kathleen Bilton and Dircia Schubert.

On July 1, 2022, police responded to a shooting at 13990 Jefferson Davis Hwy (Longview 7-Eleven) in Prince William County, where they discovered the victim, Claudia Morataya, deceased from an apparent gunshot wound to the abdomen. An investigation revealed that Isaiah McGriff, the defendant, was present outside the 7-Eleven that night, along with the victim and others, drinking and socializing before the shooting occurred. A verbal dispute ensued between the victim and the defendant, culminating in the victim throwing a beer bottle at McGriff. McGriff was heard making threatening remarks before later shooting the victim in nearby woods, a press release notes.

The firearm used in the homicide was recovered at a nearby apartment, where McGriff was known to stay. McGriff denied being present near the 7-Eleven during an interview with detectives, but evidence, including footage from a doorbell camera at the apartment building, placed him in the vicinity shortly after the homicide.

McGriff’s sentencing is scheduled for July 25, 2024, before a Prince William County Circuit Court Judge. Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth expressed gratitude for the extensive investigation conducted by police detectives, which provided crucial circumstantial evidence for the case. She commended the prosecutors, Kathleen Bilton and Dircia Schubert, for their dedication in securing justice for Claudia’s murder.

McGriff had several previous charges in Prince William County before the murder, including a robbery at home in 2019, which a judge tossed out.

The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney also acknowledged the essential support provided by Kristen Marek, Deputy Director of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Victim/Witness Program, to the victim’s family. Recognition was also given to the diligent efforts of the Prince William County Police Department detectives and officers involved in the case.

A Prince William County judge dropped a rape charge against a man accused of raping a 10-year-old girl in Dale City.

Prince William County Circuit Court Judge Carroll A. Weimer Jr. dropped the charge on March 6. The suspect, 40-year-old Bernabe Garcia of Woodbridge, was set to appear for a jury trial on the rape charge from March 18 to 21, 2024.

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth said she had no comment on the case and emailed:

“I do not comment on cases involving juveniles alleged to have been sexually abused as I believe their privacy should be respected. Speaking generally and not specifically about any case, I will tell you that we never “drop” charges – that is not a legal term used when speaking about criminal charges. The Commonwealth may elect to nolle prose or “not prosecute” the charges at this time. This does not prevent charges from being brought back at a later date. The decision to nolle prose a case can be made by a prosecutor for a variety of reasons, such as the unavailability of key witnesses to appear at trial, the need for additional evidence or investigation by the police, the discovery of evidence inconsistent with the original charges, the need for further testing of evidence at the forensics lab, the inability of witnesses to testify, the desire of a victim to not move forward with prosecution, etc. I can assure you that the decision to nolle prose a case is not made lightly and is done in consultation with the victim and the police.”

It’s the second time Ashworth has declined to comment in as many months. Last month, Ashworth refused to comment on The arrest of Jose Rafael Lizama, a 47-year-old resident of Manassas Park, charged in the death of Justin Burns, who was struck and killed while walking near the Old Town Sports Pub in Downtown Manassas on December 2, 2023.

Police arrested Lizama immediately following the crash on December 2, 2023, when he was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Astonishingly, he was released the next day on a personal recognizance.

Police arrested Lizama a second time on February 2, 2024, when Lizama, this time facing charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection to Burns’ death. However, Lizama was released on February 5, 2024, upon posting a $5,000 secured bond.

For the rape case, police charged Garcia On February 16, 2023, when detectives with the Prince William County Police Special Victims Bureau concluded an investigation into a sexual assault that was reported to have occurred at a home in Dale City on January 16 and February 12, 2023. The investigation revealed the female victim, who was under the age of 10 at the time of the offenses, was sexually assaulted by the accused on more than one occasion, police said.

Police said Garcia knew his victim. The victim reported the incident to a family member, who contacted the police, prompting the investigation.