Zak Failla

Assistant Managing Editor

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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

Towson, MD
Breaking News
12-Year-Old Girl Killed, 4 Others Wounded In Baltimore Shooting: Police (UPDATED) 12-Year-Old Girl Killed, 4 Others Wounded In Baltimore Shooting: Police (UPDATED) 12-Year-Old Girl Killed, 4 Others Wounded In Baltimore Shooting: Police (UPDATED)
12-Year-Old Girl Killed, 4 Others Wounded In Baltimore Shooting: Police (Updated) A 12-year-old girl is dead, and several others were hospitalized following a mass shooting in Maryland. Gunshots rang out around 6:15 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, in the 1200 block of North Franklintown Road in Baltimore, prompting a massive response from the Baltimore Police Department. Upon arrival, first responders found the girl suffering from a gunshot wound, as well as a 25-year-old woman who had also been struck. The 12-year-old was rushed to an area hospital, where she was later pronounced dead despite efforts to save her. As officers investigated the shooting, a 28-year-old man and …

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by Zak Failla
Galloway, NJ
Breaking News
Dead Passengers, Fake Drivers: NJ Woman, Colombian Lover's $13M Scheme Unravels Dead Passengers, Fake Drivers: NJ Woman, Colombian Lover's $13M Scheme Unravels Dead Passengers, Fake Drivers: NJ Woman, Colombian Lover's $13M Scheme Unravels
Dead Passengers, Fake Drivers: NJ Woman, Colombian Lover's $13M Scheme Unravels Some of the passengers were dead. Some of the drivers had never driven a car. But a New Jersey woman and her Colombian lover apparently had no trouble taking taxpayers for a ride. For years, prosecutors say, Jael Watts, 45, of Alloway, operated Pearl Transit Corporation, a New Jersey-based company that purported to have drivers scattered across the country giving rides to elderly and disabled people while also conducting outreach for homeless Americans. Watts and Luis Pino-Copete, 42, of Bogota, Colombia, were convicted following a multi-week federal trial in Utica of orchestrating a spraw…

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by Zak Failla
Severna Park, MD
Breaking News
Pedestrian Nearly Killed In Crosswalk By Hit-Run Land Rover Driver In Severna Park, Police Say Pedestrian Nearly Killed In Crosswalk By Hit-Run Land Rover Driver In Severna Park, Police Say Pedestrian Nearly Killed In Crosswalk By Hit-Run Land Rover Driver In Severna Park, Police Say
Pedestrian Nearly Killed In Crosswalk By Hit-Run Land Rover Driver In Severna Park, Police Say A pedestrian doing all the right things came dangerously close to being killed by a hit-and-run driver in Maryland. Officers from the Anne Arundel County Police Department were called shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, in Severna Park, where a person was struck by an SUV while in a crosswalk at the intersection of Ritchie Highway and Magothy Bridge Road. Investigators described the crash as near-fatal. Video from nearby businesses helped police identify the vehicle as a dark-colored Land Rover Discovery that was traveling north on Ritchie Highway when it struck the pedestrian. …

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Second Jury Convicts 3 DC Men In Shooting That Left One Dead, Another Wounded: DOJ Second Jury Convicts 3 DC Men In Shooting That Left One Dead, Another Wounded: DOJ Second Jury Convicts 3 DC Men In Shooting That Left One Dead, Another Wounded: DOJ
Second Jury Convicts 3 DC Men In Shooting That Left One Dead, Another Wounded: DOJ A second jury reached the verdict the first one couldn't. Three DC men were convicted on Friday, Oct. 2, in the 2021 murder of 34-year-old Delonte King, who was shot in the head and back during a burst of gunfire that also wounded another man. Demonte Gibson, 28, Tre’Quan Nelson, 26, and Asani Forte, 29, were found guilty following a retrial in DC Superior Court, more than a year after their first trial ended with a hung jury. King was killed shortly after 2 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2021, when gunfire broke out in the 2800 block of 14th Street NW. Police responding to the shooting found King uncon…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
'Give It To Me': DC Man Had Just One Dime When Robber Shot Him In Head, Feds Say 'Give It To Me': DC Man Had Just One Dime When Robber Shot Him In Head, Feds Say 'Give It To Me': DC Man Had Just One Dime When Robber Shot Him In Head, Feds Say
'Give It To Me': DC Man Had Just One Dime When Robber Shot Him In Head, Feds Say There was almost nothing to take. A 24-year-old man killed during a robbery outside his DC home had just a dime in his pocket when police found him after the November 2023 shooting, according to federal prosecutors. Now, the man who killed Jireh Martinez is headed to prison for 20 years. Kenneth Coleman, 37, was sentenced on Friday, Oct. 2, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder while armed in the Nov. 17, 2023, killing. Martinez was coming home from a convenience store that day when Coleman confronted him and put a gun to his head, court documents state. Coleman repeatedly demand…

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by Zak Failla
Fairfax, VA
Breaking News
13-Year-Old Driver Crashes Through Guardrail, Into Power Pole In Fairfax County: Police 13-Year-Old Driver Crashes Through Guardrail, Into Power Pole In Fairfax County: Police 13-Year-Old Driver Crashes Through Guardrail, Into Power Pole In Fairfax County: Police
13-Year-Old Driver Crashes Through Guardrail, Into Power Pole In Fairfax County: Police He was still years away from getting a driver's license. That didn't stop him from getting behind the wheel. Two 13-year-old boys were hospitalized in Northern Virginia on Sunday morning after their car careened off the road in Fairfax County, through a guardrail and into a power pole, police say. The crash was reported around 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 4 near the northbound ramp from Fairfax County Parkway to Pohick Road, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. Investigators say the teens shut down the ramp after the crash, which left them both with minor injuries. It was closed for hou…

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by Zak Failla
Towson, MD
Breaking News
Multiple People Shot In Baltimore As Police Swarm Scene Saturday Night (DEVELOPING) Multiple People Shot In Baltimore As Police Swarm Scene Saturday Night (DEVELOPING) Multiple People Shot In Baltimore As Police Swarm Scene Saturday Night (DEVELOPING)
Multiple People Shot In Baltimore As Police Swarm Scene Saturday Night (Developing) A Saturday night shooting has drawn a heavy police response in Maryland. Baltimore Police were called to the 1200 block of North Franklintown Road on Saturday evening, Oct. 3, where investigators confirmed there were multiple shooting victims. As of shortly after 8 p.m., police had not released the number of victims, their conditions or any information about what led to the gunfire. North Franklintown Road was closed at North Ellamont Street as officers remained at the scene. Police also established a media staging area near the scene as the investigation continued. Additional details ar…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Tequila, Ghost Gun, Child In Back Seat: DC Felon's Gas Station Getaway Goes Bust Tequila, Ghost Gun, Child In Back Seat: DC Felon's Gas Station Getaway Goes Bust Tequila, Ghost Gun, Child In Back Seat: DC Felon's Gas Station Getaway Goes Bust
Tequila, Ghost Gun, Child In Back Seat: DC Felon's Gas Station Getaway Goes Bust It was a bad place to try to make a run for it. With a young child in the back seat and federal agents surrounding his car at a crowded DC gas station, Dayvon Darius Marson allegedly hit the gas anyway, dragging an ATF agent before crashing into another vehicle. That decision ultimately helped send the 31-year-old DC felon to federal prison for two years on Friday, Oct. 2. The trouble started months earlier, shortly after 6:15 p.m. on Feb. 26, when Marson pulled into a Citgo in the 3800 block of Minnesota Avenue NE in a Toyota Avalon with heavily tinted windows. Metropolitan Police office…

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by Zak Failla
College Park, MD
Breaking News
'We Just Want You Home': Family Pleads For Help Finding Missing UMD Student Dilan Ashar 'We Just Want You Home': Family Pleads For Help Finding Missing UMD Student Dilan Ashar 'We Just Want You Home': Family Pleads For Help Finding Missing UMD Student Dilan Ashar
'We Just Want You Home': Family Pleads For Help Finding Missing UMD Student Dilan Ashar A Maryland family just wants their son home. The search for 22-year-old University of Maryland student Dilan Shaan Ashar intensified on Saturday, Oct. 3, after campus police released new surveillance images that dramatically changed the timeline of his disappearance. Ashar was last seen on camera at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, at the Terrapin Trail Garage on the UMD campus in College Park, according to the University of Maryland Police Department. Police have classified Ashar as a critical missing student and are asking for the public's help finding him. The latest images s…

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by Zak Failla
Arlington, VA
Breaking News
Man Pulled On Car Door Handles Before Gun Handoff, Deadly Chase Through DC: Feds Man Pulled On Car Door Handles Before Gun Handoff, Deadly Chase Through DC: Feds Man Pulled On Car Door Handles Before Gun Handoff, Deadly Chase Through DC: Feds
Man Pulled On Car Door Handles Before Gun Handoff, Deadly Chase Through DC: Feds It started with someone pulling on car door handles at 4:15 in the morning. It ended with a 23-year-old dead, and two men facing murder charges nearly two months later. District residents Henry Buchanan, 48, and Charles Jenkins, 46, were arrested in connection with the Aug. 4 shooting death of Xavier Fogle in Northwest DC, federal authorities announced on Friday, Oct. 2. According to court documents, surveillance cameras captured Fogle pulling on door handles in the 1400 block of Clifton Street NW, including one belonging to Buchanan. Buchanan came out of a nearby building and confronted F…

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by Zak Failla
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