SHOOTING

2 Suspects in Custody After Springfield Killing of Highly Decorated Military Couple

Edward McDaniel Jr. was an active duty colonel doctor at Fort Belvoir, police said. Brenda McDaniel, his wife, was a retired military nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps

By NBC Washington Staff • Published May 27, 2021 • Updated on May 27, 2021 at 11:43 pm

The two suspects in custody after the killing of a military doctor and his wife, a retired military nurse, Wednesday in Springfield, Virginia, were coworkers of a relative of the victims, police say.

Fairfax County police said in an update Thursday that they had two people in custody after the killings of Dr. Edward McDaniel Jr., 55, and Brenda McDaniel, 63.

Ronnie Marshall, 20, and D'Angelo Strand, 19, are charged with second-degree murder.

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Thanks to a community tip, police found a car believed to be connected to the shooting. Police were searching for a light-colored 2018 Nissan Altima with Maryland license plates.

The McDaniels, military veterans, were killed outside their home in the 8000 block of Flint Street.

Edward McDaniel Jr. was an active duty colonel doctor at Fort Belvoir, police said. His wife was a retired military nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.

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Maj. Ed O'Carroll said the killings were directly related to an incident at the same home Monday.

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Public Safety

Police arrest two men in slayings of Va. husband and wife who were Army colonels

By Justin Jouvenal
May 27, 2021 at 5:03 p.m. EDT

Two men have been charged in connection with the shooting and killing of a husband and wife — both of whom had obtained the rank of colonel in the Army — in the front yard of their home in Springfield, Fairfax County police said Thursday.

D’Angelo Strand, 19, and Ronnie Keandre Marshall, 20, were taken into custody on two counts each of second-degree murder and firearms violations Thursday, following a manhunt that stretched across Fairfax County and the D.C. area.

Police identified the victims of Wednesday morning’s shooting as Edward McDaniel Jr., 55, an Army doctor, and Brenda McDaniel, 63, a retired Army colonel and nurse. Their son and another person were at the home when the shooting occurred, police said.

[Springfield husband and wife shot and killed in front yard of home, police say]

Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a news conference Thursday evening that the motive for the slayings was a dispute, but its exact nature was under investigation. He said the two men charged worked with a relative of the victims but declined to say where.

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Fairfax County police put out a plea for the public’s help late Wednesday in locating a light-colored Nissan that was seen leaving the scene of the shooting in the Newington Forest neighborhood. ... Police said that car was spotted shortly after 7:20 a.m. Thursday at a business in Lorton. Officers arrived and the operator of the vehicle, Strand, of Fort Washington, was taken into custody, police said. The car was seized and is being searched for evidence.

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Dan Lamothe and Julie Tate contributed to this report.

By Justin Jouvenal
Justin Jouvenal covers courts and policing in Fairfax County and across the nation. He joined The Post in 2009. Twitter https://twitter.com/jjouvenal