A 29-year-old Leesburg man is behind bars without bond after police say he fled the scene of an early-morning fight, then came back a short time later and fired several rounds into an empty vehicle near a school. Trevon M. Taylor was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the Oct. 17 shooting in the 500 block of East Market Street, and investigators say his own account of events quickly fell apart under scrutiny.
According to Daily Voice, Taylor contacted officers around 9:30 a.m. that morning to report that several people had assaulted him during an altercation sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. He initially told investigators he had fired his weapon in self-defense during the confrontation, a claim that shaped the early direction of the case.
But detectives say the story did not hold up. Investigators determined that Taylor actually left the area after the fight, then returned to the parking lot a short time later and fired several rounds into a vehicle that had no one inside it, per the same outlet's reporting. No injuries were reported in connection with the gunfire, a detail that WJLA also confirmed in its coverage of the initial investigation, when police said there was no known threat to the community.
Vehicle Moved Two Days Later
The case took another turn on Oct. 19, when the driver of the targeted vehicle contacted police to report that it had been moved elsewhere, according to the Daily Voice account. That detail, combined with the gap between the alleged shooting and the report, kept detectives working the case for 11 days before an arrest was made.
Leesburg police closed part of a shopping center parking lot while they investigated the reported gunfire, as the Town of Leesburg noted in describing an earlier canvass that found the gunfire had caused damage to private property with no injuries reported at that point. On Wednesday, Taylor was taken into custody and charged with discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, felony property damage and reckless handling of a firearm, as first reported by WFMD.
What the Charges Mean
Virginia law makes it unlawful to handle a firearm recklessly so as to endanger the life, limb or property of any person, according to the state statute covering reckless handling of firearms, which can be found through the Virginia General Assembly. Separately, state code identifies discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of school property as a Class 6 felony, according to the cited statutory text.
Taylor was taken to the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center, where he remains held without bond. The investigation remains ongoing, and no further details have been released about the identity of the alleged assault victims, the vehicle's owner or whether additional charges may follow.
Pattern of Violence in the Same Block
This is not the first violent incident Leesburg police have investigated in the 500 block of East Market Street in recent memory. The town previously announced an arrest in a May 2025 malicious wounding case that also occurred in a parking lot in the same block, underscoring that the stretch has drawn repeated police attention over the past year and a half.
