Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

[email protected]

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Equal parts Lois Lane, J. Jonah Jameson and Vicki Vale, Zak! has traveled from coast-to-coast covering small and big town community news in both in print and online for nearly a decade since his graduation from the award-winning Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in 2010.

Before settling into the Hudson Valley, Zak! previously spent time in the New York Daily News newsroom and worked for hyperlocal digital news outlets on Long Island. He wrote sports for The Ithacan and The Ithaca Journal before taking his talents to the Pacific Northwest, where he served as the sports editor at the Shoshone News-Press until heading back east to work with Daily Voice.

Zak Failla's Contributions

Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Man Jumps From Moving Car After Armed Carjackers Force Him Into Trunk In DC, Feds Say Man Jumps From Moving Car After Armed Carjackers Force Him Into Trunk In DC, Feds Say
Man Jumps From Moving Car After Armed Carjackers Force Him Into Trunk In DC, Feds Say A DC man thought locking his victim in the trunk would be enough. It wasn't. The man popped the emergency release and jumped from the moving car after Dajuane Goode and two others allegedly forced him inside during an armed carjacking in Southeast DC, according to federal prosecutors. More than two years later, Goode has admitted to his role in the ordeal. Goode, 25, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Sept. 15, to carjacking and possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of a mixture containing fentanyl, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced. The carjacking b…

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by Zak Failla
Randallstown, MD
Breaking News
'She Deserved Another Birthday': Transgender Woman Sophie Mourned After Baltimore Shooting 'She Deserved Another Birthday': Transgender Woman Sophie Mourned After Baltimore Shooting
'She Deserved Another Birthday': Transgender Woman Sophie Mourned After Baltimore Shooting Sophie should have had decades left. Instead, the 27-year-old transgender woman was shot and killed in Maryland early on Friday, Sept. 11, leaving her family to plan a funeral and those who loved her asking that she be remembered for more than how she died. Baltimore Police were called to the 2300 block of Hunter Street at approximately 1:15 a.m. for a reported shooting and found a woman suffering from gunshot wounds in the 2400 block of North Calvert Street, officials said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not publicly identified the victim, though Baltimore Safe Haven id…

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by Zak Failla
Falls Church, VA
Breaking News
Fugitive Wanted On Child Sex Charges 1,500 Miles Away Turns Up In Falls Church: ICE Fugitive Wanted On Child Sex Charges 1,500 Miles Away Turns Up In Falls Church: ICE
Fugitive Wanted On Child Sex Charges 1,500 Miles Away Turns Up In Falls Church: ICE A fugitive wanted on child sex charges in Colorado turned up more than 1,500 miles away in Virginia. Jose Saul Canas-Guandique, 49, was arrested by ICE officers in Falls Church after authorities said they learned he was wanted out west on three felony charges involving a child. Canas-Guandique, a Salvadoran national, is charged in Colorado with: Sexual assault on a child by a person of trust; Solicitation of child prostitution; Use of the internet to lure a child with intent to exploit. The arrest raises an obvious question that ICE's Wednesday, Sept. 16 announcement doesn't answer: How d…

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by Zak Failla
Rockville, MD
Breaking News
Manhunt Underway For 21-Year-Old Accused Of Killing 'Coach Nick' In Rockville (UPDATED) Manhunt Underway For 21-Year-Old Accused Of Killing 'Coach Nick' In Rockville (UPDATED)
Manhunt Underway For 21-Year-Old Accused Of Killing 'Coach Nick' In Rockville (Updated) The search for Nicholas Njuki's killer now has a name and a face. A 21-year-old Maryland man is wanted for murder after investigators identified him as the suspected gunman in the fatal shooting of Njuki outside a Rockville restaurant early Sunday, Sept. 13, according to Montgomery County Police. Shayan Solimani Damabi, of Gaithersburg, remained on the run as of Wednesday, Sept. 16, three days after the 33-year-old Njuki was killed following a confrontation that began inside Quincy's on Seven Locks Road. Police say Damabi may be driving a red 2018 four-door Acura TLX with Maryland license …

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by Zak Failla
Randallstown, MD
Breaking News
Maryland Nurse Took Morphine Meant For 10-Year-Old After Open-Heart Surgery: AG Maryland Nurse Took Morphine Meant For 10-Year-Old After Open-Heart Surgery: AG
Maryland Nurse Took Morphine Meant For 10-Year-Old After Open-Heart Surgery: AG A 10-year-old recovering from open-heart surgery was left in severe pain in Maryland while the nurse entrusted with the child's morphine was diverting the drug for herself, prosecutors say. Kaitlyn Elizabeth Chalmers was working in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore when another nurse began questioning why the child's pain wasn't under control, according to the Maryland Attorney General's Office. The child had just undergone open-heart surgery. Chalmers, a registered nurse at the time, was responsible for administering the morphine p…

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by Zak Failla
Purcellville, VA
Breaking News
Search For Missing Purcellville Woman Covered 6K Acres Before She Was Found Not Far From Home Search For Missing Purcellville Woman Covered 6K Acres Before She Was Found Not Far From Home
Search For Missing Purcellville Woman Covered 6K Acres Before She Was Found Not Far From Home Hundreds searched. Thousands of hours were spent. Still, the ending came painfully close to home. Nearly two weeks after 80-year-old Carolyn Taylor disappeared in Virginia, she was found dead by a neighbor on Sunday, Sept. 6, in a densely wooded area not far from her Lincoln-area home, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. Now, investigators are detailing just how extensive the search for Taylor became before she was found. Approximately 315 people spent more than 2,400 hours combing over 6,000 acres of rural terrain after Taylor, who had dementia, was reported missing at 1:51 …

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by Zak Failla
Fredericksburg, VA
Breaking News
Fredericksburg Man Smashed Through Glass Door, Dragged Woman From Room Before Attack: Police Fredericksburg Man Smashed Through Glass Door, Dragged Woman From Room Before Attack: Police
Fredericksburg Man Smashed Through Glass Door, Dragged Woman From Room Before Attack: Police A Virginia man who terrorized a woman he shares a home with during a harrowing early-morning ordeal has been apprehended, police say. Officers were called to Ivanhoe Court at approximately 6:24 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16, where a woman had suffered serious injuries during an assault, according to the Fredericksburg Police Department. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she remained in serious condition. Police say the woman and 38-year-old Jose Caal Choc are in a relationship and share a home on Roffman Road, though she was at a separate residence on Ivanhoe Court when he came looki…

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by Zak Failla
Waldorf, MD
Breaking News
Garden Hose Stops Blaze From Spreading With Seven Inside Waldorf Home: Fire Marshal Garden Hose Stops Blaze From Spreading With Seven Inside Waldorf Home: Fire Marshal
Garden Hose Stops Blaze From Spreading With Seven Inside Waldorf Home: Fire Marshal A garden hose may have kept an incendiary fire in Maryland from becoming something much worse. Shortly before midnight on Friday, Sept. 11, an occupant of a home on the 4900 block of Morraine Street in Waldorf spotted flames on the rear deck and extinguished the fire with a garden hose, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal. Seven people were inside at the time. The fire wasn't reported until the following morning, when Deputy State Fire Marshals were called to investigate and determined it had been intentionally set. Damage was limited to approximately $1,500, and no injuries…

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by Zak Failla
Fairfax, VA
Breaking News
Cellphone Clue, License Plate Readers Led Fairfax Detectives To Ex-CEO At Reagan Airport: PD Cellphone Clue, License Plate Readers Led Fairfax Detectives To Ex-CEO At Reagan Airport: PD
Cellphone Clue, License Plate Readers Led Fairfax Detectives To Ex-ceo At Reagan Airport: PD A cellphone and license plate readers helped Virginia detectives put a name to the man accused of secretly filming teen girls. Fairfax County Police revealed new details on Wednesday, Sept. 16, about how investigators tracked down Shawn Gremminger, 44, of Falls Church, before arresting him at Reagan National Airport on child pornography and unlawful filming charges. The investigation began on Aug. 16 and 17, when officers responded to reports that a man had unlawfully recorded three victims while they visited stores in the Tysons area. Two were 18-year-old women. The third was a 16-year-ol…

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by Zak Failla
Rockville, MD
Obituaries
'Beloved Coach' Nicholas Njuki Mourned After Deadly Rockville Restaurant Encounter 'Beloved Coach' Nicholas Njuki Mourned After Deadly Rockville Restaurant Encounter
'Beloved Coach' Nicholas Njuki Mourned After Deadly Rockville Restaurant Encounter To his family, Nicholas Franklin Njuki was a beloved son and brother. To others, he was Coach Nick. The 33-year-old Gaithersburg man was shot and killed early Sunday, Sept. 13 following a confrontation that began inside Quincy’s on Seven Locks Road in Rockville, according to Montgomery County Police. Now, as detectives search for his killer, Njuki’s family and friends are making sure he is remembered for everything that came before that night. A son. A brother. A friend. A coach. A mentor. “Nicholas was a cherished son, brother, family member, friend, coach, and mentor whose life tou…

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by Zak Failla
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