There have been 11 homicides in Prince William County in 2016.
That’s one more murder in the county than was reported in all of 2015.
Despite the disturbing rise in the number of homicides just halfway through the year, the county’s top cop says there is not a crime wave in Prince William County.
“The murder rate doesn’t follow any particular trend,” said Prince William County Acting Police Chief Barry Barnard. “The murder rate is like a roller coaster, and there’s never been a particular pattern.”
The county’s homicide numbers vary each year. Barnard pointed to 2006 when police recorded 16 murders that year when the county’s population was far less than the nearly 450,000 people who live here today. There were seven murders in 2014.
Since the body of 36-year-old Lizeth Lopez was found in Lake Ridge on April 29, 2016, five more homicides have been reported in the county since then.
“Of course, it’s concerning because it’s compacted,” said Barnard. “We can’t explain the timing of these murders but we can say that but they’re not related.”
The murders do share a common thread: Many of the suspects knew their victims.
In February, police said Ronald Williams Hamilton, 32, shot and killed his wife 29-year-old Crystal Sheree Hamilton in a domestic dispute. In this same incident, Prince William police officer Ashley Guindon, 28, was shot and killed and two police other officers were wounded.
In May, a 14-year-old boy was killed after “he told” on another boy who knew him.
This is the first year in the past four the Prince William County Police Department did not receive funding for new officers. Barnard requested the Board of County Supervisors to fund 25 new police officers in this year’s budget.
While more resources would be nice, said Barnard, there were 79 new police officers added over the past four years. The department consistently states that the Board of Supervisors’ decision this year not to fund the new officers will not impact the level of service the police currently provide to its residents.
“It’s important for us to have the resources we need to complete our mission. The most important resource we have, and we have a fair amount of resources, is the community,” said Barnard.
Murders in Prince William County in 2016
1. Found human remains spark murder investigation
2. Crystal Sheree Hamilton shot and killed in domestic
3. Prince William police officer Ashley Guindon killed in line of duty
4. Javiel Rosado Santiago killed in drug deal
5. Body of Lizeth Lopez found in Lake Ridge
6. Jamal Hakeem Ahmad Joseph Bryant shot, killed near Dumfries
7. Police find 19-year-old Ishamael Mansaray shot to death outside school
8. 14-year-0ld killed, 17-year-old charged
9. Thomas Mannion, 43, dead of gunshot wound
10. Twenty-three-year-old shot, killed as Woodbridge nightclub closed
