Homicides in the Washington region jumped 17 percent in the first three months of the year, fueled by a spate of killings in Prince George’s County. Sixty-two people were killed in the first quarter of 2011 compared with 53 in 2010, highlighted by several high-profile slayings including a homicide at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda on New Year’s Day, the beating death of a yoga shop employee last month and the shooting death of a University of Maryland student.
Prince George’s County saw 27 homicides — 16 in January alone. One of those killings — the Jan. 11 killing of University of Maryland student Justin DeSha-Overcash, 22, who was shot dead during a botched drug robbery — sent shock waves throughout the College Park campus.
One long-time Prince George’s resident said she’s never seen crime as bad as it is now.
“People are moving because they feel unsafe, but it’s not fair to people who have lived in these communities for years and years,” said LaVerne Williams, the president of the Lewisdale Citizens Association in Hyattsville.
But a police spokesman downplayed this year’s numbers, saying sudden increases in crime can periodically happen without reason.
“The point we stress is there are spikes,” said Cpl. Evan Baxter, a spokesman with the Prince George’s County Police Department. “They happen. They’re coincidental. They’re not related to any broader scope. January was the perfect example. It’s unfortunate, but it was a long string of coincidental homicides back-to-back.”
The District saw 22 slayings in the first quarter of the year, two fewer than last year. But the city’s homicide numbers were inflated on March 30, 2010, when four people died in a drive-by shooting in Southeast.
| Murder spree | ||||
| Homicides from Jan. 1 to March 31 | ||||
| Location | 2011 | 2010 | ||
| Prince George’s | 27 | 18 | ||
| Montgomery | 5 | 4 | ||
| District | 22 | 24 | ||
| Manassas | 3 | 0 | ||
| Fairfax | 2 | 3 | ||
| Arlington | 0 | 1 | ||
| Prince William | 3 | 3 | ||
| Alexandria | 0 | 0 | ||
| Greenbelt | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 62 | 53 | ||
| Source: Individual police departments and online crime databases. | ||||
There have been five homicides in Montgomery County, one more than in 2010. That includes the March 11 slaying of 30-year-old Jayna Murray at Lululemon Athletica, who police said was brutally murdered by a fellow employee at the Bethesda store where she worked.
Other killings in Montgomery County include that of a 40-year-old Suburban Hospital employee, who was shot dead at work in January. Police also arrested one man for two murders four days apart in March in Olney, where homicides are rare. One of the victims was an 81-year-old man.
“Our homicide statistics fluctuate,” said Lucille Baur, a spokeswoman with the Montgomery County Police Department. “So it’s really not until the end of the year that we have a good sense as to whether or not we are having significantly more homicides than in a previous year.”
In February, authorities in Virginia charged 37-year-old Jose Oswaldo Reyes Alfaro, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, with first-degree murder. He is accused of killing three people in Manassas and injuring three others in a shooting and stabbing rampage.
The leader of one group that provides services to victims and the family of crime victims — and has an office in Prince George’s County — said they are providing more services to people in the area.
“It’s clear that the number of victims that we are serving that are homicide-related has increased significantly,” said Russell Butler, the executive director of the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center.
