Posted on 07/07/2006 4:38:55 PM PDT by RDTF
As Arlington County detectives continued to investigate the shooting death of 24-year-old Paul Zeller outside the Pentagon Row shops last week, the former soldier's father said yesterday that his son would be buried this morning in his home state of Colorado.
-snip-
"It's been very hard for us," said Zeller, a retired Navy chaplain who teaches at a seminary in Westcliffe. "We don't have any answers. . . . The police haven't told us anything except to avoid speculating about what happened."
Police said Zeller was fatally shot at close range outside the upscale shopping center just after midnight Friday. Investigators interviewed several witnesses and handed out hundreds of fliers, and yesterday chased several leads, said Detective Steve Gomez, a police spokesman. Police do not know whether Zeller was targeted by his assailant or was a victim of random violence in a relatively safe and quiet area of Arlington.
Zeller was honorably discharged from the Army in September 2004 after serving in Iraq as a mortar man with the 82nd Airborne Division. He worked long hours at the College Park Honda dealership, where he sold and detailed cars, among other duties, his family said. Zeller commuted between Arlington and Prince George's County on Metro and was walking home from the Pentagon City Station when he was killed. Family members said he did not appear to have been robbed.
Police said Zeller was found dead at 12:06 a.m. in front of the retail center's World Market store in the 1300 block of South Joyce Street. It is near several high-rise apartment buildings between the Pentagon City mall and Interstate 395. The bars at a couple of restaurants at the shops stay open late, police said, and so several people were in the area when the shooting occurred.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Pentagon City is fairly upscale. Robbery?
The article dismissed that possibility. Very strange isn't it? Jealousy, vendetta, or random act of violence are possibilities.
He wasn't robbed. But the metro is right there and does bring in people from the inner city. And yes - within the last few years it has been developed into a very upscale area. Most can't afford to live there. I go there to shop, dinner, etc and often late at night and have never had a problem.
I live in Baltimore and I spent a weekend in DC last summer, staying in Crystal City and I was impressed and surprised how comfortable I felt riding the DC Metro all around town all day and even late at night after a dinner in China Town.
I’d never ride the Baltimore subway and while I used to ride the light rail, I’m not so sure I would these days.
Sad story especially after having served in Iraq where danger is a given fact of everyday life - I hope they catch the killer.
Two years and still no justice for him and his family.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/17705738/detail.html
Paul Matthew Zeller, an Iraq war veteran, was murdered near the Pentagon Row Shopping Center in Arlington on June 30, 2006.
Video of him entering and exiting Harris Teeter (upper right corner):
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=1176575&comments=true
His tribute site:
http://paulzelleriraqiwarvet.com/
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