Man charged in Manassas bank robbery

By Keith Walker

Published: November 17, 2008

Manassas police have arrested a man in connection with a Friday robbery at the Provident Bank at 10175 Hastings Drive, police said.

Ijaz William, 30, of no fixed address, was charged with two counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery, said Sgt. Tim Neumann, Manassas police spokesman.

Police said a man went into the bank at about 10:52 a.m., placed a duffel bag on the counter in front of a teller, implied that he had a gun and demanded money, Neumann said.

The teller said that when she gave the man an undisclosed amount of money, he ran out of the bank toward Dumfries Road, Neumann said.

Police officers who responded to the robbery found the duffel bag with the stolen money not far from the bank.

Police said that it appeared that the robber dropped the bag after the dye pack exploded.

Officers arrested William a short time later at the apartment complex at Hastings and 7th Regiment drives.

Ijaz was held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on a Dec. 29, Neumann said.

Well, this is the robbery that I was blogging about earlier. I am "the teller" they speak of.

Playing Tourist

For by birthday I decided that I wanted to go to DC. I live right next door to these incredible monuments, yet I have not actually taken the time to play tourist.

So for my birthday, I became a DC tourist :) Here was my day:

First, my main destination was the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln is my favorite historical President, but we had to pass by the Washington Monument and the World War II Memorial to get there. Here are the pictures:

We then went to the Vietnam Memorial:

The White House:

We took the Metro back to the Smithsonian Metro Station, giving the perfect view of the Capital:

The National Museum of American History:

This is the actual Greensboro Lunch Counter

Look, They already have Obama!!

And home in time for dinner and cake:

I Was Robbed... Seriously...

I am going to attempt to make a long story short. Ready. Set. Go.
Yesterday (Friday) November 14th I was at work (I work at a bank). Well, my lovely coworkers got be a cake since my birthday is tomorrow (Sunday) November 16th. We finished the cake and were getting back to the normal day, and I was robbed.

A man came into the bank yelling at me to give him all of my money, and to hurry up.
I can't go into much detail, but it was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had. I wish I could share more but no one really specified what I can and cant talk about. They just said that it is healthy to talk about it but not to go into detail, I'm not sure if that is possible, but ill try.

I just hope I don't have to go to court. I would hate to see him again. I have to say, he was a very mean bank robber. I always just hoped that if I was ever robbed, it would be a nice bank robber who was doing it to help feed his children or something like that.
I guess I am just naive.

Could It Be?

Photo By: Tristan L. Diaz
A Global Recession?

I tried to find a picture I took when it was $5 a gallon three months ago.. no luck.. But I can tell you, I have not filled my tank on $23 in 3 or 4 years.

Tents for Darfur

Yesterday I went into DC just to get some lunch and walk around. I was lucky enough to come across "Tents for Darfur" on the National Mall. The pictures are worth a thousand words.
You could never imagine the damage the Sudanese Government is causing on the African population in Sudan. I have been studying the situation in Darfur in my class on Genocide at UMW. I am going to insert a section of a paper I recently wrote, it is just a brief overview of the current situation. Hopefully it will give those of you who don't already know, a little more information:

Darfur is a region in Sudan in which genocide is taking place. The government of Sudan, members of the Sudanese military, and government armed and supported Janjuaweed militias are systematically attempting to end the lives of these “African” civilians as a whole. At this point nearly all villages in Darfur have been destroyed. Men, women, and children that have not been killed are living in camps. It is estimated that over 2 million people are living in these camps, however they are not safe. These people are dying of malnutrition, lack of water, their water sources are being poisoned, woman and children are in constant fear of being raped, and disease is common. Despite attempts at humanitarian assistance, it is limited. There is a chokehold on humanitarian aid, going from harassment to murders of volunteers. There is an overall sense of insecurity in these camps. Darfur is at a standstill and without help; innocent lives will continue to be lost.