As I.H. Qadri was driving to work Sunday morning, he noticed a lot of police activity in the parking lot by his restaurant, Chikzza's, which is located inside the Days Inn. He thought that it was some kind of speed trap, but he soon realized that the police were there for a more serious matter.
A murder had happened earlier that day, April 4, at around 4:30 a.m. According to Fairfax County police, Christian J. Aranzana-Vasquez, 19, of 6400 block of Pickett Street in the Beacon Hill area, was shot while in the parking lot of the Days Inn, 6100 Richmond Highway. He was arguing with an individual in the lot when a third person shot him in the upper body. Aranzana-Vasquez was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Lieutenant Michael D. Dittmer, Assistant Commander, Mount Vernon District Station, was hoping that they would have already made an arrest in this case. He said, "We're following up on some good leads and are confident that we'll be able to piece it all together soon."
Suresh Amin, general manager at Days Inn, said that the security guard who was on duty that night, R. Bailey, heard noise out in the parking lot, and went out to tell them to quiet down. Shortly after, there was a shot. Bailey heard the bang and immediately called 911. When Amin went to the hotel later that day, he said that some of the guests were upset and worried that they were staying in an area that was unsafe. He assured them that was not the case; one of the hotel's housekeepers who worked there for 32 years said that she had never witnessed a murder in all the time she worked there.
Over the years, a couple of guests had heart attacks and there was one attempted suicide, but no murder incidents.
This event happened away from the hotel, on the service road. The police questioned some of the guests, but it is not clear if either the victim or suspect was staying at the hotel.
"It could happen anywhere," said Amin. "As far as we're concerned, our staff had no idea what was going on."
The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 703-691-2131 or Crime Solvers at 800-673-2777.