Fredericksburg Man Set-Up for Robbery

Sarah Lynn McKelvey, 23, of Triangle, reportedly set up two acquaintances to be robbed Monday night, and was accidentally shot during the incident, according to Prince William County Police. 

Just before 5 p.m. Dec. 3, a 47-year-old Triangle woman picked up McKelvey and a 42-year-old Fredericksburg man near the Dumfries Shopping Plaza.  They drove to the 18200 block of Graham Court in Triangle, where a man approached the vehicle, displayed a handgun and began assaulting the Fredericksburg man  with the gun, said Officer Jonathan Perok in a press release.

As the suspect was beating the victim, the gun went off and the bullet struck McKelvey, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

The driver took McKelvey and the victim to the Dumfries-Triangle Rescue Station.  McKelvey was flown to a nearby hospital; the man was transferred by ambulance. Both had non-life-threatening injuries. 

Detectives from the Violent Crimes Bureau determined McKelvey "had arranged the meeting to take place near the cul-de-sac, and had been inadvertently shot during the encounter," Perok said. Neither the male victim nor the female driver were involved in planning or executing the crime. 

McKelvey was charged with robbery and malicious wounding, and 
held without bond pending her Jan. 16 court date.

Detectives are still working to identify the shooter. He was described as a black male with short black hair, 20 to 25-years-old, about 5'7", with a thin build -- perhaps 140 pounds. He was wearing a black beanie style hat and a black jacket with two horizontal red stripes on the left upper sleeve. 

A similar crime occurred in Fredericksburg last month , when a Spotsylvania resident intending to help a female friend was allegedly robbed by that woman and two other men.  All three suspects were arrested in that incident.

The Prince William County Police Department provided this information.  Where an arrest is mentioned, it does not indicate a conviction.