A 33-year-old Alexandria man is being held without bond after police say he robbed a West End Safeway with an airsoft gun made to look like a Glock 17, then struck a Fairfax County Giant grocery store the very next day. Kareem Taylor now faces court dates in two separate jurisdictions as prosecutors in Alexandria and Fairfax County sort out how to handle the back-to-back stickups.
According to ALXnow, Taylor was identified by Alexandria police as the suspect who allegedly brandished the firearm replica during the Sept. 20 robbery at the Safeway located at 299 S. Van Dorn Street. Per the Alexandria Police Department affidavit, two men entered the store and waited at the customer service counter before one of them displayed what looked like a firearm and assaulted the store manager. The suspect stole a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of beer, and when the assistant manager tried to call 911, the man reportedly interrupted the call, tossed the pack of Newports back across the counter, and threatened to shoot the manager before the two suspects fled in a black Ford Escape.
Taylor was later identified as the suspect who had displayed the airsoft replica, APD said, and he was recorded leaving the scene with an accomplice who has not been identified. The next day, Sept. 21, Taylor allegedly robbed a Giant grocery store in Fairfax County, where he was ultimately stopped by officers while driving the same black Ford Escape and found in possession of a black airsoft gun modeled after a Glock 17, according to the affidavit.
Charges Split Across Two Courts
Taylor was charged in Alexandria with robbery with threat of force, and in Fairfax County with attempted robbery using force and being drunk in public, per the affidavit cited by Patch. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov. 13 and a separate Fairfax County court appearance set for Dec. 21, with court dates set in both jurisdictions.
Virginia Code § 18.2-53.1 defines a firearm as a weapon designed to expel a projectile by an explosion, according to the Medvin Law Firm. The Giffords Law Center says Virginia localities may restrict pneumatic-gun shooting and use in certain areas.
Threatening Display Still Carries Felony Weight
Even without a real gun, prosecutors aren't without options. Virginia Code § 18.2-58, restructured by lawmakers in 2021, classifies robbery committed with physical force or a non-firearm deadly weapon as a Class 5 felony carrying up to 10 years in prison, according to the Law Offices of George L. Freeman, IV. Displaying an actual firearm in a threatening manner, by contrast, is a Class 3 felony carrying five to 20 years, a distinction that could shape how aggressively Alexandria and Fairfax prosecutors pursue the case now that Taylor is in custody.
It remains unclear whether prosecutors in the two jurisdictions will coordinate sentencing or pursue separate consecutive trials, and Taylor's alleged accomplice from the Safeway robbery has not been identified.
Earlier Abduction and Robbery
The alleged abduction and robbery involved a white BMW and a struggle.
On Sept. 24, three days after Taylor's Sept. 21 arrest, Hoodline reported on a separate abduction involving alleged events near Pendleton Street and North Union Street; the victim later ran away at Van Dorn Plaza, where her husband intervened. The suspect allegedly stole $1,500 and was also held without bond. Hoodline has additionally covered a separate Alexandria case involving an armed robbery suspect found hiding under his mother's bed after a blood trail led investigators to him, another commercial robbery that ended with the suspect held without bond.
