Just yesterday, I posted Northern Virginia - A Safe Place to Live which detailed a University of Virginia study showing that 5 Northern Virginia jurisdictions were among the safest areas in Virginia. 

And at the top of the list... the supposedly peaceful City of Alexandria.

Fast forward to today.  The scene is Cameron Station.  A wonderful neighborhood where I've sold half a dozen homes.  I've got friends and clients who live there.  It's less than a mile down the street from my condo in Alexandria.

Now, it's all over the local news:  A shooting happened this morning in Cameron Station.  Some homes in the neighborhood were evacuated.  The woman's in the hospital.  Samuel Tucker Elementary School within the Cameron Station neighborhood went into lockdown mode.

News reports:  Channel 9, Channel 7, Washington Examiner, NBC, WTOP

What happened to this usually safe and peaceful neighborhood?

The news reports that after the shooting, the suspect barricaded himself inside the house on the 5000 block of Waple Lane in Cameron Station.  The media reports that this was a likely domestic dispute between boyfriend and girlfriend.

The UVA crime study looked at homicides by strangers.  The fact of the matter is that most shootings, violent crimes, and homicides are committed by somebody who knows the victim, usually intimately.  Random shootings and homicides are actually few and far between, especially in a generally peaceful area like Alexandria, Virginia. 

Please read The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker (I just read it the other week) and you'll learn the truth about crime.

Bottom Line:  Despite today's shooting, I feel comfortable saying that Cameron Station specifically, and Alexandria in general, is still a safe place to live.  It's unfortunate that domestic disputes happen, and they can happen anywhere at any time.  However, you should feel safe in knowing that the Alexandria police department reacted quickly to today's incident.