Sunday, police charged a 41-year-old Mt. Vernon man with murder after finding a man shot and seriously wounded in a Chevrolet sedan in 2400 block of Phillips Drive in the Beacon Hill area of Mount Vernon.
About 10:30 Saturday evening, police were summoned to 2440 Phillips Drive by several calls reporting a Chevrolet had hit parked cars. A citizen in a nearby house, told police that when he approached the car, he saw the driver had been shot. He said he saw a man in dark clothes, perhaps with a hooded sweatshirt, running from the scene.
A police affidavit filed in support of a search warrant request by Detective John A. Wallace, said the citizen reported the wounded man gave him his mother’s telephone number and told him to tell her "John did it."
The victim, Todd Rogers, 31, of Manassas Park, was taken by ambulance to Fairfax Hospital where he died of his wounds. The police did not recover a gun at the scene of the shooting.
Meanwhile, the police affidavit said, the victim’s girlfriend arrived at the scene and advised investigating officers that "John" was her ex-boy friend, John Bloxham, 41, six feet tall with brown hair of 2813 Memorial St. off Route 1 in the Mount Vernon area.
Two Mount Vernon patrol officers were sent to 2813 Memorial St. and shortly after they saw a red Infinity arrive at the address. They then saw a man get out and enter the residence. The officers questioned the man and ascertained he was John Bloxham. They smelled a strong odor of gun cleaner solvent about the man. He said that he had been shooting and white water rafting in West Virginia and was cleaning his gun in the bathroom.
Police were also told by a neighbor on the 2400 block of Phillips Drive that Bloxham had been seen earlier in the evening at his ex-girlfriend’s house and been told to go home.
Police would not identify the girlfriend, but she reportedly lives in the area of Phillips Drive.
Bloxham’s home is less than a mile from the Phillip’s address. It is a two story white frame house several doors east on Memorial Street from Route 1. According to a neighbor who lives in the 2800 block of Memorial St., Bloxham lives in the house with his invalid mother. He thought Bloxham may have worked for the U.S. Department of Labor and he often saw him riding his bike in the neighborhood. He described Bloxham as a "likeable" and "pleasant" man. He refused to give his name.
Both addresses are in old established residential neighborhoods of 1940s and 1950s bungalows east of Route 1.
The affidavit said police believe there is probable cause that John Patrick Bloxham "committed the crime of murder and has been charged with the killing of Todd Rogers."
The search warrant was issued for "any and all handguns, ammunition, storage devices for firearms and/or ammunition, gun cleaning kits, paperwork relating to the sale, possession or purchase of firearms or ammunition. The warrant also wanted any photographs or personal papers showing Bloxham had possession of a gun.
The warrant was for the Memorial Street house and the Infinity car. The police want any dark clothing, and "any items with blood transfer such as bloody clothes or blood inside the car." The warrant asked authority to open any safes, locked areas or boxes found at the address.
It was signed at 4:30 a.m. on July 1 by Magistrate Paul E. Gignon.