Detectives with the Prince William County Police Department have charged a suspect in the slaying of two women at the Westgate Apartments and Townhomes in the 8100 block of Porter Ridge Lane in Manassas. People responded to the location around 12:45 for reports of a man with a gun.
Around this time, a 61-year-old man reported that he had been carjacked by a man with a gun in the 8100 block of Portwood Turn. Officers reached the scene and spoke to the carjacking victim. The victim reported he was approached by the suspect who brandished a gun and took his vehicle.
The victim was not injured. Several hours later, officers received information from law enforcement in Shenandoah County that a man was being detained after his vehicle had become inoperable. The man had walked to a convenience store where authorities were notified.
PWCPD says additional information was obtained leading to a welfare check at an apartment on Porter Ridge Lane in Manassas. Officers attempted to get someone to answer the door several times. When that failed, they entered the apartment and found two victims deceased from gunshot wounds. The victims and the accused were known to each other.
Detectives obtained arrest warrants charging 36-year-old Edward James Jackson Bland with two counts of murder, one count of carjacking, and three counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The deceased victims have been identified as 34-year-old Leann Renee Harris and 22-year-old Asia Payne.
Jay Skelton is an independent crime journalist with a passion for covering the uncovered and the under covered.