Update, 5:05 p.m.: According to a statement from FPD, Safar was arrested Friday evening in Florence, N.J., and is in custody. Police thanked the public for its “patience and assistance.”
Update, 4 p.m.: A whirlwind 12-hour period that saw a last-minute closure of Fredericksburg’s city schools “for safety and security reasons” on the final day of classes before spring break concluded with assurances from the Fredericksburg Police Department that “there is no direct threat” to the school division.
In between, agents from the FBI’s Washington field office combed Fredericksburg looking for Fasihullah Safar, a missing 16-year-old from Fairfax County.
Police said Safar, 16, was seen trespassing at James Monroe High School on Wednesday and fled when approached by a school resource officer. A subsequent search “had negative results,” police said.
Then, on Thursday evening, the FBI informed the city’s police department that they were looking for Safar. FPD personnel recognized him from the trespassing incident at James Monroe a day earlier.
“Information received from the FBI aided in our identification of this offender and elevated our concern for safety in our schools,” the FPD statement read.
That concern became public for the first time at 5:30 a.m. Friday — just two hours before the first bell at JM — when FCPS families received automated calls, text messages and notifications on the ParentSquare app informing them that schools would be closed for students and staff alike.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials continued to seek Safar’s whereabouts. Anita Crossfield, who owns Anita’s Cafe and Dessert Bar in downtown Fredericksburg, said an FBI agent came by her establishment Friday afternoon displaying a photo of Safar and asking employees if they’d seen him.
Crossfield, who noted she wasn’t present at the time of the agent’s visit, said he showed his FBI badge to two of her employees.
“He said, ‘Have you seen this person?’ That was it,” Crossfield related, adding that Anita’s has an “open-door policy” and she didn’t know whether law enforcement had canvassed other downtown businesses.
Crossfield, who is also a member of Fredericksburg’s Economic Development Authority, said she plans to review camera footage from her business to “keep an eye on it.”
“He’s pretty dangerous, and he’s on the loose right in our little town,” she said.
That no longer appears to be the case, however. Police say they’ve been in communication with the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, and the agencies “strongly believe” that Safar stole a vehicle in Stafford Thursday night. That vehicle was subsequently recovered out of state later Friday afternoon.
Original story: Around 5:30 a.m. Friday, Fredericksburg City Public Schools families and staff received text messages and notifications on the ParentSquare app informing them that schools would be closed for “safety and security reasons.”
Those reasons became clearer four hours later, when schools and the Fredericksburg Police Department released the identity of a missing Fairfax County juvenile.
According to that message, Fasihullah Safar, 16, was seen trespassing at James Monroe High School on Wednesday and fled when approached by a school resource officer. A subsequent search “had negative results.”
“We believe there are potential safety and security concerns with this individual’s mental state,” the release reads.
The police department cited Virginia Code 16.1-301 in releasing the identity of a juvenile. That law governs confidentiality of youths’ records, prohibiting their disclosure for purposes “other than evaluating threats to students and school personnel.”
Safar is wanted for trespassing on school property, and police are asking anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact them at (540) 373-3122 or leave an anonymous tip by texting “FPDtip” to 847-411.
In a message to families, Spotsylvania County Public Schools stated that the division had contacted the county’s sheriff’s office and “have been informed that this issue does not affect Spotsylvania County Public Schools.”
(This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.)
