Police: No known connection between Rose Hill stabbings

John Mercado (Fairfax Police)

Fairfax County Police are investigating two recent stabbings in the Rose Hill area, but a department spokesman said today there’s no known link between the incidents at this point.

William G. Martines-Palma, 29, was fatally stabbed in the leg on March 25 near a popular trail behind the Rose Hill Apartments. No arrests have been made in the case.

Two days after Martines-Palma was killed, a 26-year-old man was stabbed in the lower body during a confrontation between groups in the 4500 block of Apple Tree Drive in Rose Hill, according to a police news release. The man stabbed in the incident suffered non-life threatening wounds, police said. A day later police arrested John Mercado, 19, of Springfield, and charged him with malicious wounding in connection to the stabbing.

“Detectives are looking into any possible connection between the two incidents, however none has been determined at this time” said Don Gotthardt, a Public Information Officer for the FCPD.

According to Gotthardt, no other charges have been filed in the Apple Tree Drive incident.