LANSDOWNE, Va. - Prosecutors say it seems gang members are beginning to attack innocent people after the arrests of four people in the brutal beating of a Lansdowne woman and the murder of her husband in March.

Rushing from the Loudoun County (web | news) courthouse too upset to speak, the family of accused killer Darwin Bowman went to hire him an attorney.

Bowman could face the death penalty for the murder of William Bennett and the attack on his wife Cynthia. In court via closed circuit feed from jail, Bowman wore an orange jumpsuit and a grim expression.

He and three other men, all affiliated with a local street gang, are in custody and face charges in connection with the case and many others.

"It's bad enough that they're killing each other but if they're going to kill innocent people -- then something definitely has to be done," said resident Daniel Bennett.

Loudoun County deputies and detectives carried out search warrants on several homes in the county, including a Sterling neighborhood where Bowman, an unnamed 18-year-old and a 17-year-old boy also charged with capital murder lived.

"I think if you get by with it the first time they try it the second, the third and the fourth," said resident Nancy Ball.

A huge break in the mysterious murder case came when Leesburg police arrested Anthony Roberts of Middleburg as he was allegedly trying to get away from a gun store burglary.

Detectives believe Roberts was part of the group who tried to rob the Bennetts while they were out for a walk before dawn March 22. While the crime isn't being regarded as gang violence, the Commonwealth's attorney of Loudoun County Jim Plowman says it's one of the first times gang members have turned on regular people.

"Every now and then you see these folks commit something that you don't expect," noted Plowman.

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