A 73-year-old man has died days after he was shot at an ATM in Falls Church, Virginia, during an attempted robbery, police said days after the attack.
The victim was identified as Nelson Alexander, a loving, family-oriented man and involved member of his church who sang in the choir, his loved ones said.
Alexander had stopped to use an ATM at a bank in the 2900 block of Annandale Road about 5:20 a.m. Wednesday, while he was on his way to work. A young man approached him and tried to rob him, police said.
Alexander was shot in the chest, police said.
A young man wearing distinctive black and white sneakers and a large backpack was seen attacking the victim on surveillance footage and is wanted for murder, Fairfax County Police Public Affairs Director Anthony Guglielmi said. He ran away without taking money or property, police said.
Alexander wasn’t found until nearly an hour later when a bicyclist passed by about 6:15 a.m., police said.
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He was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. Guglielmi said he was “devastated” to share that Alexander died on Saturday.
The suspect got away either on foot or in a car, police said. A car was seen on surveillance video but it's unclear how they were related.
Officers were seen searching a light-colored Jeep near a Wells Fargo bank. The parking lot was blocked off by yellow police tape.
The attempted robbery and shooting were a "heinous, disgusting act," Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.
The victim's wife, Jean Alexander, said that although she and her husband had separated, they remained close friends who talked all the time.
"It makes me really emotionally sad. I'm really angered in a way. There's no feelings to express the way I am right now," she said.
At another press conference on Saturday, Davis began by thanking the community for tips about the gunman, and issued a powerful plea to the shooter -- and his friends and family who may know about his crime.
"I encourage that young man, who undoubtedly knows what he did... to turn himself in," he said. "Be a human, be a person, be a man, and turn yourself in."
Alexander's wife also said she would forgive the killer if he turns himself in.
Police believe the gunman was involved in other crimes in the community, and said the shooting was most likely an unplanned attack that turned deadly.
Alexander's death was the 19th murder in Fairfax County, Major Ed O’Carroll, Major Crimes, Cyber and Forensics Bureau chief said.
O'Carroll also asked members of the community to send in footage from their security cameras if they captured the attack, saying that the killer is Fairfax County’s “public enemy number one."
Stay with News4 for more on this developing story.
