Arlington police have made an arrest in a December shooting that rattled a normally quiet North Arlington neighborhood just days after Christmas.
The Arlington County Police Department announced that 18-year-old Malik Proctor Vasquez, of Arlington, has been charged in connection with gunfire reported in the Radnor/Ft. Myer Heights neighborhood.
Police say the incident happened around 12:42 p.m. on December 27, 2025. An officer on proactive patrol heard gunshots in the area of 13th Street North and North Taft Street. When additional officers arrived, they recovered evidence confirming that several rounds had been fired.
According to the preliminary investigation, a male suspect walked up to a parked vehicle, fired a gun, and then ran from the scene. An occupant inside that vehicle allegedly returned fire before driving away. No one was injured.
That detail — shots exchanged in broad daylight on a residential street — left many residents shaken at the time. The Radnor/Ft. Myer Heights area sits just north of Rosslyn, a mix of high-rise apartments, single-family homes and busy commuter routes. Midday gunfire there is rare.
Detectives with the department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit launched what police describe as a comprehensive investigation. Over the next several weeks, they identified the suspect who allegedly approached the vehicle on foot.
On the evening of February 19, 2026, officers took Vasquez into custody in the 1200 block of North Scott Street. He is charged with Shooting into an Occupied Vehicle, Reckless Handling of a Firearm and Carrying a Concealed Firearm.
Police say the investigation remains active. Anyone with information is asked to contact the department’s tip line at 703-228-4180.
As this case moves forward, it underscores a concern I’ve heard repeatedly from residents across Arlington: even isolated incidents of gun violence carry an outsized impact in neighborhoods where people expect to feel safe walking to school, work, or the corner store. For now, police say they’re continuing to sort through the full sequence of events that led to gunfire on that December afternoon.