WASHINGTON — The actions of a Loudoun County sheriff’s deputy are under investigation after he was carjacked and his service weapon was stolen last week.
In the early hours of last Wednesday, the off-duty Loudoun County sheriff’s deputy had given a ride to an unknown man and dropped him off at a store in Clarke County, Virginia. The man was later identified as Zakarea Alzanam, 24, of Schenectady, New York, according to the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office.
After the deputy had dropped off Alzanam, he noticed his cellphones were missing and went back to the store to look for the suspect. It was then that Alzanam took the deputy’s firearm, carjacked the deputy’s personal SUV and drove away.
An intensive search was launched involving Virginia State Police, law enforcement from Clarke and Loudoun counties, and the Fairfax County police helicopter.
But it was a Clarke County resident who called police to say that he was holding the suspected carjacker at gunpoint in the 800 block of Chilly Hollow Road. Alzanam was taken into custody at a residence on nearby Bittersweet Lane, the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office said.
Alzanam has been ordered held without bond on charges including carjacking, possession of a firearm by a felon and eluding police.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office has launched an internal affairs investigation of the off-duty sheriff’s deputy, who has not been identified.
