A Burke man allegedly fired several shots into the air before shooting Brendan Tash, according to several eyewitness accounts of a homicide that took place in the early-morning hours of Sunday, March 6.
Fairfax County police arrested 19-year-old Durrell Pretty on Wednesday, March 9, following the shooting death of Tash, a 20-year-old resident of the 8800 block of Cameo Square in Springfield. The arrest was made by members of the Fairfax County Gang Unit, but police are emphatic that the shooting does not appear to be a gang shooting.
"They were being used in their capacity as detectives. It was not gang-related," said Officer Richard Henry, a spokesman for the Fairfax County Police Department.
A hearing date has been set for April 26, for one count of murder against Pretty, a Springfield resident. According to the search warrant affidavit, police were able to develop their leads based on the statements of two separate witnesses, questioned earlier in the day on March 9. One witness informed police they had observed Pretty firing four shots in front of the house in the 6200 block of Cardinal Place, where the shooting took place. Two were fired up in the air, according to the statement, and two were fired "toward the victim." Through other interviews done with eyewitnesses, police were able to determine that six rounds were fired from a revolver, before the suspect fled the scene in a car.
According to police, Pretty arrived at the scene with several other people, and Tash was also among others when he was shot. Henry said detectives were still attempting to establish what led to the shooting, and whether Tash was the intended target.
"We do know there was a dispute between individuals who got there, and the individuals who were already there," he said.
Tash was shot once in the back of the neck, then taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. On March 10, police executed a search warrant on Pretty's house, where they confiscated among other items, a Brinks Home Security Safe. They were also searching for both the revolver and ammunition.