An 89-year-old man who shot his wife multiple times while she was sleeping in a recliner chair at their Chantilly home, killing her, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
An 89-year-old man who shot his wife multiple times from close range while she was sleeping in a recliner chair at their Fairfax County, Virginia, home, killing her, pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter and weapons charges.
Douglas Sommer faces a total of 15 years in prison in the killing of Marilyn Sommer, who was 87 at the time of her death in February. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and unlawful discharge of a firearm and is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 9.
According to Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, Douglas took his .32 caliber Herstal 1922 pistol and went into the den of his home on Pennypacker Lane, where Marilyn was sleeping in the recliner. He pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger five times, striking her several times in her head and chest, Descano’s office said in a news release.
When first responders arrived, prosecutors said, Douglas calmly stated he killed his wife. Their daughter, who was at the family home to help her parents move into an assisted living facility, later told police her father did not want to move.
“Marilyn Sommer’s long life ended in her own home, at the hands of her own husband,” Descano said in a news release. “This is a tragic outcome for the whole Sommer family.”
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This week’s Military Bowl Touchdown Club High School Football Player of the Week is Westfield High School linebacker Jason Lartey.
Jason Lartey began his Westfield High School football career as a wide receiver. Even after switching to the defensive side of the ball, eventually settling at linebacker, it took a little bit of time for the transition to take place.
But now, in his first full season as a starter, the promise that Lartey displayed is coming to fruition. This past Friday, the senior intercepted three passes, returning one for a touchdown, and made nine tackles, including a critical sack on a potential go-ahead two-point conversion late in the game, as Westfield escaped with a 17-16 win over Madison.
“We thought the best thing about him was his motor and how hard he plays,” Westfield coach Scott Vossler said. “We thought that pursuing the football, he would be great on defense. He just had to see himself as a defensive player. A lot of guys grow up and think of themselves as one thing for so long that it’s hard for them to see themselves as something else.”
For his efforts, Lartey was named the Military Bowl Touchdown Club High School Football Player of the Week.
Westfield High School linebacker Jason Lartey makes a tackle. (Courtesy John Caccivio/@ginginphotos)
Lartey moved to defensive back as a sophomore and played defensive end and outside linebacker last year, beginning to settle in and make more plays as the season went on. There were high expectations for him to be one of Westfield’s top players this season and he is trying to meet them.
“He has been an outstanding leader for us,” Vossler said. “He’s been one of our stalwarts on defense and came up big in one of our biggest games this week. We wouldn’t be where we are without him.”
This week’s D.C. Touchdown Club Honor Roll:
ANNE ARUNDEL South River QB Ben Raines completed 17 of 21 passes for 372 yards and seven touchdowns as the Seahawks beat Crofton, 56-16.
DC Phelps WR Gabriel Wiggins caught four passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns as the Panthers beat Ron Brown, 40-26.
FREDERICK Linganore QB David Doy completed 10 of 12 passes for 176 yards and four touchdowns as the Lancers beat Oakdale, 45-14.
HOWARD Atholton QB Tyler Bell completed 16 of 22 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another score as the Raiders beat Long Reach, 32-7.
LOUDOUN Loudoun County RB Montez Dyson rushed 41 times for 202 yards and four touchdowns as the Captains beat Loudoun Valley, 31-7.
MONTGOMERY Bethesda-Chevy Chase RB Gabe Eisler rushed 19 times for 184 yards as the Barons beat Walter Johnson, 28-21.
PRINCE GEORGE’S Gwynn Park QB William Butler completed 12 of 16 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns and rushed nine times for 144 yards and two touchdowns as the Yellow Jackets beat Central, 37-28.
PRINCE WILLIAM Woodbridge RB Marquece Sharpe rushed 20 times for 147 yards as the Vikings beat Forest Park, 17-3.
PRIVATE St. Mary’s-Annapolis WR/FS Dylin Jackson caught eight passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown as the Saints beat Loyola Blakefield, 50-35.
SOUTHERN MARYLAND St. Charles RB/DB Christopher Quick rushed 15 times for 130 yards and one touchdown, returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and on defense made 13 tackles with two tackles for loss and broke up one pass as the Spartans beat Northern, 24-22.
WCAC Bishop McNamara LB Jianni Davis made four tackles with two sacks, broke up three passes, forced two fumbles and intercepted a pass as the Mustangs beat Gonzaga, 21-0.
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The CEO of a Chantilly-based government contractor will pay $1 million in restitution after pleading guilty in Fairfax County’s largest-ever wage theft case.
The CEO of a Chantilly-based government contractor will pay over $1 million in restitution to eight former employees after pleading guilty in Fairfax County, Virginia’s largest-ever wage theft case, Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said Monday.
Thomas Burns was the CEO of SP Global, which specialized in technology implementation. Starting in October 2020, the company stopped paying its 40-plus workers.
According to a news release from Descano’s office, Burns and other executives promised for months that payment and backpay was coming, saying there were issues with international banking regulations and travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.
Employees worked without pay for months, consoled by those promises, Descano said, before eventually quitting without ever being compensated.
The company defrauded 42 workers of more than $5 million, Descano said. Eight workers chose to be included in the county’s restitution agreement totaling $1,070,429.21, while the other 34 chose to proceed with a lawsuit, which is pending.
“Stealing is stealing, and financial crimes can be just as devastating for victims’ families — those who don’t get paid can miss rent or mortgage payments, putting their safety and security at risk,” Descano said in a news release.
Burns was also sentenced to four years in prison, with one year suspended. He pleaded guilty to two counts of wage theft of more than $10,000 and one county of conspiracy to commit wage theft.
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Two Fairfax County students used AI to create an algorithm that can be used to classify EEG signals, which can be used to control prosthetics.
Fairfax County students Gautham Ramachandran and Sriram Nalini used AI to create an algorithm that can be used to classify EEG signals, which can be used to control prosthetics. (Courtesy Gautham Ramachandran)
Fairfax County students Gautham Ramachandran and Sriram Nalini used AI to create an algorithm that can be used to classify EEG signals, which can be used to control prosthetics. (Courtesy Gautham Ramachandran)
About seven months ago, Chantilly High School student Gautham Ramachandran came across a man in a wheelchair on the sidewalk.
Ramachandran said he was inspired by the man who was navigating life without his legs. Ramachandran approached him, and they exchanged pleasantries.
In the days that followed, Ramachandran reflected on his desire to help people like the man he spoke to.
“I was wrestling with a pressing question: How can we leverage technology to provide autonomy and empower individuals like him?” he said.
Ramachandran and his classmate, Sriram Nalini, realized the answer to that question involved artificial intelligence. They used AI to create an algorithm that can be used to classify electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, which can be used to control prosthetics.
“It’s a key to a new realm of interaction, where your thoughts seamlessly translate into action; where technology is an invisible, intuitive extension of the human experience,” Ramachandran told WTOP.
Ramachandran has been programming since he was in third grade, and used to create video games using HTML and JavaScript. Instead of playing the video games, though, he said he “got addicted to creating them,” and spent hours coding.
When he was in middle school, Ramachandran said he released a game on the platform Steam. But none of that compared to his latest efforts.
Ramachandran said he and Nalini considered different types of available technology for analyzing brain signals. In some cases, patients get implants, which Ramachandran said are innovative but “require a level of invasiveness that isn’t really ideal for everyone.”
A traditional EEG headset is another alternative, but Ramachandran said those are complicated “due to needing so many electrodes, and frankly, not as accurate as we’d hope, especially when it comes to classifying movements.”
So, the two students took the EEG technology and streamlined it.
“We basically used this AI algorithm as the embodiment for this vision,” Ramachandran said. “It’s designed to work with just a handful of electrodes.”
The innovation is helping with accuracy, he said. Previously, the maximum accuracy he’s seen is 98%, “which means that there’s going to be two mistakes out of every 100 movements.”
With the help of the algorithm, Ramachandran said there’s “classification accuracy that reaches up to the zenith, up to 100% accuracy, which is really not just an improvement, it’s a revolution.”
The technology, Ramachandran said, “allows people to basically control prosthetics or control devices using their brain signals.”
