A Prince George’s County man has been convicted of murder for shooting a man in the face after a scuffle between two kids turned into a neighborhood brawl.
Marcus Lorenzo Dow, 22, of District Heights, faces life in prison plus 20 years for shooting and killing Michael Gregory Morris, 52, of Clinton, on July 24.
On that day, two preteen boys got into a fistfight on the 8200 block of Bellefonte Lane and went home to their mothers, each boy blaming the other for starting the fight. Prosecutors said the mothers, Dedrea Parham and Bridget Jarmon, reacted by arguing with each other, at which point Parham’s husband, Taiwan, joined the argument and started shoving Jarmon.
From there the fight escalated with two neighbors, Charles Johnson and Morris, the victim, trying to break it up. Things settled down after county police arrived and arrested Taiwan Parham on an outstanding warrant on an unrelated charge.
But according to testimony, once police left, Dedrea Parham’s sister Michelle Dow and Parham’s nephew Marcus Dow, the defendant, rolled onto the scene. Parham told the Dows that Jarmon, Johnson and Morris had jumped Taiwan Parham.
Prosecutors said the fight was sparked again when a friend of the Dows punched Morris, but before it could explode once again into a brawl, Marcus Dow pulled a .45-caliber semiautomatic from his waistband and shot Morris in the face at close range, killing him. Everyone then fled the scene.
State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey pointed to a generational cycle of violence.
“The inability to manage anger and handle conflicts is a major problem affecting our youth, adults, families and friend,” Ivey said. “Too many people turn to weapons to handle even minor disputes … it is distressing and destructive to all the family and friends involved.”
