A knife-wielding man who allegedly tried to rob a restaurant near Potomac Yard was hiding under his mother’s bed four blocks away when Alexandria police finally caught up with him, following a trail of his own blood the whole way. Stanley Tirone Rivers, 64, is now being held without bond on a charge of attempted robbery with a weapon after employees at the restaurant fought back and sent him fleeing, heavily bleeding, into the night.
According to a search warrant affidavit cited by ALXnow, Rivers walked into a restaurant in the 3100 block of Richmond Highway on September 1 carrying a large hunting knife and demanded that employees open the cash register. Rivers allegedly told workers, “Imma kill you, open the register, gimme the money,” per the affidavit. Rather than comply, three employees turned the tables, injuring Rivers with a large grill scraper and throwing objects at him until he ran.
Police say Rivers was wearing a green beanie, a dark New Balance shirt, a black mask, light-colored pants and light-colored shoes during the attempted robbery. The Alexandria Police Department reported that he fled the scene on foot while heavily bleeding, and an APD K-9 officer picked up his trail and followed the blood for four blocks. That trail ended in the 300 block of Hume Avenue, where officers found Rivers hiding under his mother’s bed, according to the affidavit.
From Commercial Strip to a Residential Bedroom
The 300 block of Hume Avenue sits in Alexandria’s historic Del Ray neighborhood, situated four blocks west of the commercial Potomac Yard shopping corridor along Richmond Highway, according to the City of Alexandria. The short distance between the storefront where the confrontation happened and the residential street where Rivers was ultimately found underscores how tightly the area’s commercial and residential blocks are woven together. Medics transported Rivers to Inova Alexandria Hospital, the same report notes, before he was charged with attempted robbery with a weapon, a Class 5 felony, on September 2…