'Flash Point' Killings: Murder Most Casual

On June 25, Berry returned to Farmingdale Avenue, where he ran into Huff about 4 p.m. The two started arguing over pit bulls again.

Berry pulled a .40-caliber handgun from his waistband. Huff pulled a .40-caliber from his pants. Berry fired first, police said. Huff shot back.

They chased each other through the neighborhood, firing and ducking. Both men fell about a block away, on Early Oaks Lane. Berry was dead at the scene; Huff died at a hospital.

"They shot and killed each other, basically, over a dog," said Nealon, the homicide lieutenant.

Families Torn Apart

The sudden violence leaves relatives of the victims bereft and bewildered.

Phillip Beverly Sr. of Fort Washington, whose son, Phillip M. Beverly, was shot inside the Temple Hills liquor store in 2004, said it was difficult to attend the trial of assailant Edward Bell.

"It was rough, man," Beverly said. "Looking at that dude [Bell], I couldn't believe it. You kill someone for nothing?"

Bell was convicted of murder.

In yet another case, several teenagers and young men were playing pickup basketball on an outdoor court in Cheltenham on May 2, 2004. An argument started when one player believed that an opponent had fouled him too hard. Play resumed, but minutes later, after another hard foul, a fracas broke out.

Velonta E. Roye, 18 at the time, had been on the sidelines, watching the game. But he threw himself into the fight and stabbed one of the players, Darryl Duckett, 17. The attack occurred in front of Duckett's two younger brothers, who had been playing.

Duckett staggered, collapsed and died.

Roye was from Suitland; Duckett lived around the corner from the basketball court.

"Didn't know each other. They'd never even met," said Duckett's mother, Sheri S. Brooks.

"I just don't understand the mentality of our youth," Brooks said. "If you want to fight someone, fight. Why do you have to kill them?"

Duckett hadn't made his bed the day he took his brothers to the neighborhood park to play basketball.

It remains unmade. Brooks said she can't bear to change anything in his room.

Staff writer Jamie Stockwell and staff researchers Magda Jean-Louis and Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.