This Week in Crime: Who doesn't have an extra $130 in their wet suit?

Evan Gargiulo, the Reston engineer who shot and killed a taxi driver in Tysons Corner on Sunday, has told police he did so in self-defense because the driver was angry that he couldn't pay the $130 fare.

Evan D. Gargiulo, 22, has been in jail since he surrendered to Fairfax County police Tuesday in the weekend slaying of Mazhar Nazir, 49, of Baileys Crossroads. A judge yesterday denied Gargiulo's request to be released on bond.

At the hearing, Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Ian M. Rodway said Gargiulo had been dressed in a wet suit and wig while attending a Halloween party at a downtown Washington nightclub, Fur, when his wallet, cellphone and car keys were stolen. Gargiulo was "distraught" by the theft and hired Nazir's Dial Cab to take him back to his apartment in Reston, Rodway said.

Gargiulo believed he had several hundred dollars in his wet suit, defense lawyer Steven Garver said, and agreed to pay Nazir $75 for the ride. Once at his apartment, Garver said, Gargiulo picked up a key to his Nissan sport-utility vehicle -- and his 9mm pistol. "Feeling vulnerable, he decided to pick up and take the gun," Garver said.

Who wouldn't?

Gargiulo then asked to be taken to the Rotonda condominium complex in Tysons Corner, where his friend lives, because Gargiulo's car was parked there and he did not want it to be towed from a visitors' lot, Garver said. When they arrived, Gargiulo realized that he also had lost the cash that was stashed in his wet suit, Garver said.

Again, who hasn't had this happen to them? But this is where things get ugly.

Nazir, who told him the fare was now $130, was understandably upset, Garver said. He said Nazir handed Gargiulo his phone and told him to call his friend in the Rotonda, but the friend was still at the party downtown.

Garver said Nazir "got angry, threatened my client" and "was trying to come over the front seat at my client." The two men struggled, Garver said, and Gargiulo "just instinctively reached in, pulled his gun and fired."

Gargiulo then called his parents in Hillsborough, N.J., using Nazir's phone, retrieved his SUV and drove away, Rodway said. He did not call police or tell them his side of the story until Wednesday, Rodway said.

That must have been an awkward conversation. Meanwhile, despite this week's election of some consequence, the comments on the Washington Post story about Gargiulo have predictably degenerated into a full-fledged race war, the end.