The Washington Post - 18.09.2019

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 B3

But Wittmann’s attorneys noted

that she shared some phone

applications with the rest of her

family and that metadata can

also be pulled in from download-

ed images — for example, one

image on her phone traced back

to a location in the Bahamas.

Shown the longitude and lati-

tude data on Google Maps, Witt-

mann testified that she did not

recognize the location as her

former home on Nash Street in

Herndon, saying, “I’m familiar

with multiple Nash and Spring

streets.” The judge did not refer-

ence the cellphone records in his

decision.

Michael York, a lawyer for the

plaintiffs, declined to comment

after the hearing other than to

say he would examine a possible

appeal. If that happens, no deci-

sion is likely to be made before

the November election.

[email protected]

ic.” She got a key made for

Wittmann in March, according

to the court records.

Attorneys for Wittmann ar-

gued successfully that it was

irrelevant how often Wittmann

slept in Leesburg or whether she

paid rent there — what mattered

was her intention to live in

Loudoun. Wittmann testified

that she was in Leesburg as often

as she could be and considered it

her home — “with the exception

of going back to care for my

children.” She had primary re-

sponsibility f or taking her kids to

school and picking them up, she

said, and was also often in Fair-

fax to care for two elderly rela-

tives.

The plaintiffs were allowed to

analyze Wittmann’s cellphone

data, which showed dozens of

examples of location data around

the Herndon home and only two

around Rueda’s Leesburg home.

house. Wittmann only paid her

one rent check in March, for

$205; Rueda said she was “very

uncomfortable with being paid

rent” because her colleague

helped clean and take care of her

two dogs.

Both women said Wittmann

only stayed in the Leesburg

house for about two week-long

stretches between February and

August. Otherwise, Rueda said,

Wittmann’s presence was “errat-

considered moving to Loudoun

in both 2013 and 2018.

“Her conduct clearly indicates

her intent to move to Loudoun

County from Fairfax County,”

Potter said. “She took numerous

steps.”

Potter is a Prince William

judge brought in to hear the case

to avoid a conflict of interest

given Wittmann’s long career in

Loudoun.

Wittmann testified that she

had long wanted to move to a

bigger home in Loudoun but had

trouble selling her house in

Herndon, a historic Victorian.

She and her husband sold the

house in July and, with their

children, moved into a house in

Sterling at the end of the month.

Rueda testified that she told

Wittmann it would be “silly” to

rent an apartment when she

“had an extra bedroom that I

didn’t use” i n her Leesburg town-

Wittmann testified at the day-
long civil trial that she moved in
with a colleague, Alejandra Rue-
da, the same week in February
that she learned that Common-
wealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman
had been appointed a judge and
would leave his job open. Witt-
mann also changed the address
on her pay stubs to Leesburg in
February and acquired a remote
for her co-worker’s garage, she
testified.
“I knew I needed to move into
Loudoun County immediately,”
she testified. “I moved to Lees-
burg as quickly as I could.”
On Feb. 21, Wittmann changed
her car and voter registration to
Rueda’s home and filed her can-
didacy papers. Potter cited those
moves in his decision from the
bench, along with the fact that
Wittmann and her husband had

LOUDOUN FROM B1

pierced his badge and struck his

protective vest.

Renee Carter said her brother

Eric, a construction worker, had

been prescribed opioid drugs

years earlier after a vehicle acci-

dent that injured his spine, then

developed a dependence. She

said he had been in a residential

treatment program and had left

or signed out over the weekend,

complaining that someone had

stolen money from him.

She said that it appeared Eric

had been making a steady recov-

ery but that his girlfriend

thought he had been acting out

of sorts over the past few days.

Eric decided to stay overnight

with their 76-year-old mother,

Gloria Carter, and his brother,

Alphonzo, who lived with her

as a caretaker. Renee Carter

said she did not know Eric had

a weapon or how he obtained

one.

For reasons that remain unex-

plained, Renee Carter said Eric

kicked down the bathroom door

and repeatedly shot Alphonzo.

She said their mother ran to a

neighbor’s apartment, from

where police were called.

She said her mother could

hear the gunshots that killed one

son and, moments later, the

gunshots that killed her other

son.

“We have to get answers,” said

Renee Carter, now the last sur-

viving sibling. “ This is a tragedy.”

[email protected]

bathroom.

Renee Carter said her mother

told police at some point that

Alphonzo was alone in the apart-

ment and had been injured.

A police spokesman would not

immediately comment beyond

what the chief told reporters

Monday night.

Authorities described a con-

fusing scene when they arrived

and said the first responding

officers were immediately con-

fronted outside the apartment

building by a gunman who fired

on them. Newsham said one or

more officers returned fire, add-

ing, “It sounds like the officer

didn’t have much choice.”

Police released a photo of a

Ta urus .45-caliber semiautomat-

ic handgun they said was found

outside the apartment building.

Authorities said officers who

fired have been placed on leave,

as is typical in such an investiga-

tion, and their body camera

videos are being reviewed.

Stephen Bigelow Jr., the chair-

man of the union that represents

District officers, said officers

confronted a “difficult situation”

with “lots of unknowns.” He

added: “We just had an officer

get shot. We’re not going to send

another group of officers who

didn’t have the proper protective

gear in there.”

Bigelow said the wounded of-

ficer, whom officials did not

identify, “is doing good and is in

good spirits.” He said the bullet

Police officials could not im-

mediately say how much time

elapsed from the initial shooting

about 7 p.m. to when police

found Alphonzo Carter in the

if there was a second shooter.” He

said the tactical team was called

in “to ensure the scene was

secure. When they did that they

located another male inside the

apartment suffering from gun-

shot wounds.”

Newsham told reporters at

9:30 p.m. that the wounded

person was in critical condition.

Police said a representative

fr om the medical examiner’s of-

fice later pronounced the man

dead.

that Eric Carter killed Alphonzo
Carter and then confronted offi-
cers who raced to the complex
a few minutes after 7 p.m. Mon-
day after a report of shots being
fired.
The new details fill in some
gaps from initial police accounts
Monday night.
Speaking Tuesday, Renee Cart-
er did not question the decision
by police to s hoot Eric Carter and
said she was relieved the wound-
ed officer was not seriously in-
jured. But she said relatives are
upset that police delayed enter-
ing the apartment to assemble a
tactical team, fearing a possible
second shooter. Those heavily
armed officers found the wound-
ed Alphonzo Carter in a bath-
room, where he was later pro-
nounced dead.
“My brother could have prob-
ably survived had they gone in
and got him right away,” said
Renee Carter, who is 59 and lives
in Washington. “I have one
brother who was shot because he
shot the police. I know they are
going to kill him. But what about
the other brother who was an
innocent bystander? He was left
in the house bleeding.”
D.C. Police Chief Peter New-
sham, speaking to reporters
more than two hours after the
first calls for help, said t hat “after
the male came out and shot at
our police officers, it was unclear

SHOOTING FROM B1

Seth traveled to Nashville to

interview sisters Roni and

Donna Stoneman, part of the

famed Stoneman Family who

lived in Prince George’s County.

Mark spent time with

Rob Miller, who used to catch

bluegrass acts at the Friendly

Inn in Ellicott City, Md. When

that place closed, he started

inviting bands and audiences to

a barn behind his Maryland

house.

There’s Cleve Francis, the

Northern Virginia cardiologist

who in the 1990s put his

medical career on hold to seek

country stardom.

“One of the things I’ve really

enjoyed about this process is the

people we connected with have

been just incredible to work

with,” Mark said. “They are

really passionate about what

they do, but also passionate

about sharing their stories.”

One of the mini-docs is about

Connie B. Gay, a promoter and

radio station owner who was

central to country music.

“A lot of people benefited

from the work he did,” Seth said.

“Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean, Patsy

Cline all got their start here and

owed a good share of their

success to Connie’s work.”

The pieces are being

broadcast at various times on

WETA. You can find them

online at weta.org/

countrymusic.

Working on the project has

had an effect on both men, one

that will probably be familiar to

people watching the Burns

documentary: “There’s a lot

more country music on my

Apple Music playlist,” Seth said.

[email protected]

Twitter: @johnkelly

 For previous columns, visit

washingtonpost.com/john-kelly.

touches on some of those figures

in his documentary —

Winchester, Va.’s Patsy Cline,

for example — but he didn’t

have room for others.

That’s one reason WETA

produced six mini-

documentaries that are being

broadcast as part of the country

music epic. The shorts — from

two to six minutes each — were

produced by Seth Tillman and

Mark Jones and explore D.C.-

area aspects of country music.

“We felt it was a really good

opportunity for a lot of people

who are newcomers to the area,”

Seth said. “Probably the last

thing they think of is D.C. as a

country town. Of course, it was.”

were Loretta Lynn,

Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard

and Reba McEntire.

“My very favorite is

Kris Kristofferson,” Sherry

said. “But I do not call him

country. I think he’s in a

category all by himself.”

She recited a Kristofferson

lyric: “He’s a walking

contradiction, partly truth and

partly fiction.”

Said Sherry: “I think that

should be on my tombstone.”

It might serve as a motto for

Washington itself. This area has

always been an incongruous

country hotbed, its artists,

promoters and fans vital to the

music’s success. Ken Burns

Sherry worked for 30 years at

the University of Maryland,

where she trained marriage

counselors. That seems like a

pretty good job for a fan of

country music, a genre that can

go from “Stand By Your Man” to

“D-I-V-O-R-C-E” in a heartbeat.

Sherry’s late husband, Henry,

was an ophthalmologist who’d

gone to high school at tony

Sidwell Friends and medical

school at Johns Hopkins. Sherry

did not encounter many country

music fans among those crowds.

“When my husband wanted

to be really nice to me, he took

me to the Stardust in Waldorf to

see Tammy Wynette,” she said.

Wynette was a favorite. So

Sherry Starr has
a T-shirt her kids
gave her that
reads, “I was
country when
country wasn’t
cool.”
It’s a line from
a Barbara
Mandrell song.
We were talking
about country music, me and
Sherry, who’s 83 and lives in
Silver Spring.
You can’t have missed the fact
that PBS is showing
Ken Burns’s eight-episode, 16-
hour documentary on the
history of country music. The
series has made Sherry ponder
her own introduction to the
music, back in the 1950s when
she was an undergrad at the
University of Maryland.
She was walking down a
hallway in her dorm when she
heard music coming from the
room of a girl she didn’t know.
She didn’t know the music
either — it was probably
Hank Williams, Sherry thinks
now — so she stuck her head in.
“She had a little old radio,”
Sherry said. “I said, ‘What’s that
music?’ And she said, ‘I’m from
the hills of West Virginia, and
we call it hillbilly.’
“I was hooked for life.”
Sherry had been into rock-
and-roll, but now her heart was
set on country. She’d go to the
Music Box, a record store in
Langley Park, Md., where the
owner would let her sit on the
floor behind the counter and
spread out 45s, deciding what to
buy.
What was the appeal?
“It’s because of the words,”
Sherry said. “The philosophy is
so true to life. It’s what people
are living, what emotions
they’re feeling.”

MARYLAND

Man accused of trying

to steal pedal boat

A man was arrested and

accused of trying to steal a pedal

boat — with a dragon on the

front — at National Harbor,

police said.

About 8 p.m. Monday, Prince

George’s County police

responded to the popular

entertainment destination off

the Capital Beltway.

Cpl. Lamar Robinson, a

county police spokesman, said

the man was “a little bit

inebriated.” He said officers got

him back to shore, where he was

arrested.

Robinson said police arrested

Kevin Quijano-Quijada, 22, of

Forest Heights, and charges are

pending.

— Dana Hedgpeth

Two are charged

in violent carjacking

An 18-year-old and a 16-year-

old have been charged in a

carjacking during which the

owner tried to stop them but was

thrown from the vehicle onto the

pavement outside a convenience

store in Germantown, officials

said.

Police arrested and charged

Kenneth D. Davis, 18, whose

address was unconfirmed, and

Kimberly Morales, 16, of

Montgomery Village. Davis is

charged with carjacking and

assault, and Morales is being

charged as an adult with

carjacking and other counts,

Montgomery County police said

Monday.

The carjacking happened

about 1:15 a.m. Sept. 6 outside a

7-Eleven in the 19700 block of

Frederick Road. Authorities said

a man parked his car and left it

unlocked and running while he

went into the store. While the

car’s owner was in line at the

register, he saw a man get into

the driver’s side of his car and a

woman get into the back seat.

The car owner ran outside,

opened the passenger-side door

of the vehicle and tried to get the

two out, but the driver quickly

backed the car out of the spot.

The victim was thrown from the

vehicle and struck by the door

before he fell.

The carjackers then fled in the

vehicle.

Police said Davis and Morales

were caught in the stolen vehicle

in Hope Mills, N.C., on Sept. 7.

— Dana Hedgpeth

Woman assaulted

in College Park

Police are looking for a man

who is accused of sexually

assaulting a woman in College

Park.

The man approached the

woman from behind and

knocked her to the ground

before he sexually assaulted her

about 8:30 p.m. Monday near

College and Columbia avenues,

Prince George’s County police

said.

The man fled after the attack,

police said.

— Lynh Bui

LOCAL DIGEST

Results from Sept. 17

DISTRICT

Mid-Day Lucky Numbers: 4-3-4

Mid-Day DC-4: 9-1-1-2

Mid-Day DC-5: 0-9-0-5-2

Lucky Numbers (Mon.): 6-2-3

Lucky Numbers (Tue.): 7-3-3

DC-4 (Mon.): 8-0-1-1

DC-4 (Tue.): 5-6-6-0

DC-5 (Mon.): 7-3-7-7-8

DC-5 (Tue.): 7-3-2-5-7

MARYLAND

Day/Pick 3: 5-3-3

Pick 4: 6-4-5-7

Night/Pick 3 (Mon.): 4-1-0

Pick 3 (Tue.): 0-9-5

Pick 4 (Mon.): 0-1-4-7

Pick 4 (Tue.): 4-3-9-5

Multi-Match (Mon.): 2-6-9-22-34-37

Match 5 (Mon.): 9-12-22-25-36 *2

Match 5 (Tue.): 1-4-6-25-26 *21

5 Card Cash: 4D-KH-QC-10D-6D

VIRGINIA

Day/Pick-3: 1-7-0

Pick-4: 7-0-5-4

Cash-5 (Tue.): 12-15-22-23-24

Night/Pick-3 (Mon.): 1-5-3

Pick-3 (Tue.): 7-5-8

Pick-4 (Mon.): 7-5-1-5

Pick-4 (Tue.): 0-5-4-4

Cash-5 (Mon.): 4-23-25-27-34

Cash-5 (Tue.): 7-8-14-16-28

MULTI-STATE GAMES

Cash 4 Life:3-9-14-48-57 ¶3

Mega Millions: 12-15-30-50-65 **1

Megaplier: 4x

Lucky for Life:11-12-22-31-37 ‡7

*Bonus Ball **Mega Ball

‡Lucky Ball ¶Cash Ball

For late drawings and other results, check

washingtonpost.com/local/lottery

LOTTERIES

Washington, the capital city that’s always been a country outpost

John

Kelly's

Washington

SETH TILLMAN FOR WETA

A crew interviews sisters Donna, left, and Roni of the famed Stoneman family in Nashville for one of

the WETA mini-documentaries that accompany Ken Burns’s epic 16-hour “Country Music” series.

Men’s sister: Police waited too long to enter home, help brother

GOP candidate for Loudoun chief prosecutor is cleared to run

D.C. POLICE

D.C. police said this .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun was found

outside the apartment building Monday in Southeast Washington.

“It was unclear if there

was a second shooter.”

D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham

“Her conduct clearly

indicates her intent to

move to Loudoun.”

Prince William County Circuit

Court Judge Richard Potter

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