WASHINGTON — Commuters on northbound Interstate 295 can see the electronic sign, just inside the D.C. line, flashing a police request for any information about the deadly shooting that shut down the highway during morning rush hour on May 28.
Gunfire from a dark-colored Toyota Camry or Honda smashed through an SUV driver’s window and killed 50-year-old Pedro Melendez Alvarado and wounded his passenger near the Navy Research lab exit around 8:50 a.m. that day.
“We have received tips and obviously we are still asking for more information, any information that the public has,” says Robert Alder, commander of the Criminal Investigations Division of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Police say there was some sort of traffic altercation between Alvarado’s Chevy Trailblazer and the dark-colored car on the George Washington Parkway in Alexandria, Virginia, about 20 minutes before the shooting. However, police aren’t certain about the motive.
“I would not rule out that road rage was the motive but we certainly can’t say at this time that it is,” Alder says.
A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.
Police are hoping that people who called 911 for the shooting will contact officers, who want to review what people heard and saw.
Police believe there were at least three people in the backseat of the car from where the shots were fired, including a Hispanic male, 20 to 25 years old, with long sideburns and a short, low-top haircut.
