Two people are recovering from non-life-threatening gunshot wounds after a shooting erupted before dawn on Sunday outside a busy commercial strip in Sterling, Virginia, where bystanders loaded the victims into vehicles and drove them to the hospital themselves. The gunfire broke out around 2:06 a.m. in the 46000 block of Community Plaza, a stretch of shops along Route 7 that includes a Lidl grocery store, a PostNet, and KPOT Korean BBQ.
The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office confirmed deputies responded to a shooting with multiple victims and found that two people who had been shot were already gone from the scene, having been transported by bystanders to a nearby hospital for treatment, according to a statement from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. As WJLA first reported, deputies determined upon arrival that there was no known threat remaining to the community.
Detective Coderre has been assigned to lead the investigation and is asking anyone with information to come forward. Tips can be phoned directly to Coderre at (703) 777-1021, submitted anonymously to Loudoun County Crime Solvers at (703) 777-1919, or sent through the sheriff's office mobile app, per the same statement. Investigators have not released details on the identity of the shooter, a motive, or whether the victims and the person who opened fire knew each other.
A Pattern of Late-Night Violence at the Same Plaza
Sunday's shooting is not the first act of violence to hit this stretch of Community Plaza. In July, a Reston man was arrested in connection with an earlier non-contact shooting that happened around 2:22 a.m. on July 5 in the same commercial strip near Tipicos Los Amigos restaurant, according to FFXnow.
The plaza's troubles stretch back further still. In December 2023, the sheriff's office reported that a suspect had been arrested and extradited on aggravated malicious wounding charges tied to a May 17, 2023 stabbing in the parking lot of 46950 Community Plaza. And in November 2023, deputies investigated an overnight gunfire report after a bullet struck a parked vehicle in the 46900 block of the same plaza.
Legal Stakes for Whoever Fired the Shots
Whoever is eventually charged in Sunday's shooting could face serious time behind bars. Under Virginia Code § 18.2-280, willfully discharging a firearm in a public business or gathering space that results in bodily injury to another person is a Class 6 felony, carrying a potential sentence of one to five years in prison or up to 12 months in jail, according to Simms Showers Law. Separately, Virginia Code § 18.2-53.1 imposes a mandatory minimum three-year prison sentence for using or displaying a firearm during a violent felony, a term that must be served consecutively to any sentence for the underlying crime, as Hoodline has previously reported.
Sterling Incident Stands Out in a Low-Crime County
The 46000 block of Community Plaza falls within the territory patrolled by the sheriff's office's Eastern Loudoun Station, based on East Frederick Drive in Sterling. Despite the repeated violence at this particular shopping center, Loudoun County as a whole has maintained a Part I violent and property crime rate of 5.3 per 1,000 residents, among the lowest of any major jurisdiction in the Washington metropolitan area, according to a county crime report. That contrast underscores how concentrated the plaza's recent history of gunfire and stabbings has been, even as the broader community remains comparatively safe.
For now, investigators are still working to piece together what happened in the early morning hours and who was responsible. Anyone with information is urged to reach out to Detective Coderre or submit a tip through Crime Solvers or the sheriff's office app.
