Friday night, a lover’s quarrel turned tragic according to Loudon County Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Kraig Troxell.

Allegedly, Alexander Enrique Rivera-Moreno, 22, of Sterling shot Claudia Vanessa Ayala-Duron, 22, also of Sterling, and Christopher Lee Beech, 24, of Ashburn, in a parking lot outside the Safeway at Sterling Plaza on South Sterling Boulevard, before shooting himself.

Would Candace Rondeaux, the Washington Post reporter assigned to the incident, just go with the facts, like WTOP? Or would she follow the lead of Leesburg Today and see this as an isolated incident?

Loudoun Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kraig Troxell said the incident appears to be an isolated one and there isn’t “a threat to the community.”

Or maybe get crazy and go into a little, logical conjecture, like NBC 4 did?

The shooting appears to be an isolated incident and at this time there does not appear to be a threat to the community. Detectives say it was most likely a domestic-related murder-suicide that claimed the three lives. Family members of the woman killed said she was divorced and was killed here along with her new boyfriend.

No, not Candace “Cyclist Killers on W&OD Trail” Rondeaux. Ms. Rondeaux went right crime hype with her “Three Killings Shatter Calm That Loudoun Usually Enjoys” article. Starting off with the sinister tag line of “Double Slaying-Suicide Leaves Many Questions”, in less than 300 words she quickly moves from the reality, the sad tale of domestic violence, and jumps right into gang warfare.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

But authorities say population growth and demographic shifts in eastern Loudoun may be fueling a rise in serious violent crime. Three months ago, a gang-related drive-by shooting in Sterling critically injured one man and damaged several homes.

That shooting occurred a few miles from Sterling Plaza. Authorities, residents and business owners said the strip mall, which has about two dozen stores, has recently been the scene of several violent incidents, including a number of scuffles at a restaurant that some believe is a hangout for members of the Latino gang MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha.

Whoa! So was this triple shooting part of MS-13? Was it a turf battle or show of intimidation? How are gangs and this shooting related? Oops, even Ms. Rondeaux cannot make that leap, with her admission of:

Friday night’s shootings were not believed to be gang-related.

Ah, but don’t let something as little as reality slow you down Ms. Rondeaux, you can still run with the amazing violent crime up tick. To quote her article:

While Loudoun County has boomed in population and wealth this decade, it has kept a lid on one key statistic: the homicide rate. For nearly 9 1/2 months this year, there were no killings in the county. Last year, there were two.

Wait, if you want to get technical, there were two homicides, one suicide Friday night, so the murder rate, if the two killings in 2005 were homicides, hasn’t changed – Loudoun has kept a lid on its homicide rate.

But our dear Candace Rondeaux has one last trick up her sleeve: quotes from locals. No matter that this was an isolated incident, misplaced anger of a lover jilted, the police are always looking for more money, and Loudoun County Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson was quick to make a mountain from a mole hill:

With growth, you’re going to have more and more problems. Crime is going to increase, and to deal with that, you need resources,” Simpson said. “Right now, we just don’t have enough.”

In addition, there will always be someone who will say life is not like it used to be, that the world is so much scarier now:

The scene shocked residents who came to the mall for weekend shopping. Sal Roberts, 31, a lifelong Sterling Park resident, said she feared the neighborhood could take a violent turn. “The neighborhood wasn’t like this before. It was never like this,” Roberts said. “You used to be able to walk around and not look over your back. Now you can’t do that anymore.”

You can’t Mr. Roberts, becuase you lost that feeling of safety thanks to crime hype from fear mongers like Washington Post’s Candace Rondeaux.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs