A 22-year-old man was gunned down in Suitland early Wednesday morning, the 14th killing in Prince George’s County this year. The shooting came less than 24 hours after county officials asked residents to help police solve the string of killings and vowed to fight cultural attitudes against “snitching” on those who have committed violent acts.
The county had gone seven days without a slaying, a brief respite from nearly daily killings in the first two weeks of 2011. On Tuesday afternoon, interim Police Chief Mark Magaw told the County Council that he was optimistic that “the cycle is being broken.”
Douglas Hodge Jordan Jr., a D.C. resident, was shot at about 2:40 a.m. Wednesday in the 3500 block of Terrace Drive. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, said police spokesman Cpl. Larry Johnson.
“It’s unfortunate, but we’re not discouraged,” Johnson said. “We’re just going to press on.”
On Wednesday afternoon, detectives were interviewing residents and several patrol cars roamed the Terrace Drive neighborhood of brick apartment buildings, just blocks away from the Suitland Metro station.
Johnson said it’s too early to comment on a potential motive or whether police are pursuing any suspects. Federal agents from the FBI and other agencies are embedding with county police to help stop the killings.
One neighbor, who refused to give his name but said he heard the gunshots from inside his home, said the victim was found outside near a grassy traffic circle at the end of the street. He said drugs and crime are prevalent in the area.
Before Wednesday’s death, the most recent killing was on Jan. 11, when an intruder was shot and killed by a resident of a New Carrollton home. The homeowner has not been charged, and police do not consider it a homicide.
The first homicide of the year was the stabbing death of a man in Chillum. Police have arrested suspects in four of the homicides.
Magaw said there is “no common investigative thread” running through the killings, except most do not appear random.
Police said they’re still looking for a suspect in last week’s shooting death of University of Maryland student Justin DeSha-Overcash, 21, who they say was targeted because he sold marijuana. The suspect, struck in the face during the home invasion with a glass jar, is described as a 6-foot, thin black man in his teens or early 20s. He is thought to have a facial injury.
