Pr. George's Set to Raze Much of Deadly Drug Market

Police say the homicides on the three Suitland roads stem from turf wars or drug deals. They have made arrests in three of the cases.

The county's first homicide of the year occurred on Hudson Avenue at 9 a.m. Jan. 3, when Shawn Chambers, 24, was fatally shot in front of his home. That case remains open. Chambers's neighbor, Wendy Clayborne, was killed Feb. 11 in the same block when she did not pay a $40 drug debt, according to police. Police have charged a man with first-degree murder.

Another killing occurred in April when a police officer fatally shot a man who had fired a gun into the air.

A Violent History

Prince George's has struggled this year with increasing crime, primarily in neighborhoods along the District border inside the Capital Beltway. There have been 98 homicides this year, up 26 percent from this time last year. Robberies have more than doubled, and carjackings have increased 45 percent.

Simmering tensions between rank-and-file police officers and the administration of County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) burst into public Friday during dueling news conferences. The police union argues that the crime-fighting strategy of Police Chief Melvin C. High has failed; Johnson counters that too many officers are unproductive.

Suitland has a history of violent crime, including the stabbing deaths in 2003 of two women in their seventies who were working at a florist shop on Suitland Road. No arrests have been made in the killings, which took place a block from the new school.

Elsie Jacobs, president of the Suitland Civic Association, is among the residents excited about the coming changes.

"We have hope, and we know that things are happening, so we just live with it for now," Jacobs said. "There's nothing we can do but pray and be glad when all of it is torn down."

Other residents are more desperate.

Tondrea London's 18-year-old daughter, Aisha, was shot in the neck, and London's cousin was hit by stray bullets June 21 on Huron Avenue. Aisha can no longer use her legs.

London sat on the front stoop of a friend's house on a recent afternoon, her voice rising as she talked about her daughter.

"This neighborhood is terrible," London said, shaking away a friend's comforting touch on her arm. "They have to do something about it."