ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Family, friends and neighbors gathered Friday night to hold a candlelight vigil for a father who was killed in a shooting in Alexandria.
Eric Holmes, 29, died Monday afternoon after he was gunned down on Private Drive near W. Glebe Road. Police and city officials took to social media to plead for anyone with information to come forward.
The exact details of what led up to the shooting are unclear, but investigators are looking for the person seen driving away in a newer model silver Nissan Rogue with Enterprise car sales placard.
Dozens of people showed up to honor Holmes, a father of a 7-year-old boy, at the same spot where he was shot. The scene was located next to a playground.
They brought balloons and lit candles in memory of him, even as the rain poured. Many people signed a poster with their messages and had enlarged photos of him.
“You see all the people out here,” a friend told WUSA9. “He’s missed. You know he’s going to be missed. Hopefully something happens soon.”
Multiple bullets were found throughout the neighborhood on the day of the shooting. Bullets damaged at least two vehicles.
Holmes' death marks the fifth homicide in Alexandria so far this year. The total number of homicides in 2022 was five.
Crime seems to be trending up in the area with 138 cases of aggravated assault in 2023, a spike from the total of 90 incidents last year, according to new data from the Alexandria Police Department.
Robberies also went up from 56 in 2022 to 70 year-to-date.
Stolen vehicles, burglaries and larcenies have also seen an increase from the previous year.
“I’ve been doing this job for a long time, and we are outraged at the senseless violence that’s taking place in our city,” Chief Don Hayes said in a pre-recorded statement earlier this week. “My family and I have lived here over 30 years and we have never seen it to this level.”
A couple days before Holmes’ death, there was a separate shooting that critically injured another person.