Shooting Claims Man in Clinton
Victim Intervened In Confrontation

By Philip Rucker and Candace Rondeaux
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 26, 2007

Michael Morris was a mentor to children in his working-class Prince George's County neighborhood, a quiet man known for his willingness to lend a hand or mediate a dispute.

So it was no surprise when Morris, a peacemaker by all accounts, emerged from his basement apartment Tuesday to check on a fight that a police source said had broken out among neighborhood kids over a video game.

Morris, 51, was fatally shot several hours later -- after other adults had been drawn into the dispute, after one of them was arrested and after, according to witnesses and the source, that man's friends pulled up to his apartment building eager to settle a score.

"They murdered a close friend of everybody around here," said Dee Marshall, a neighborhood resident. "It wasn't no drive-by or freak accident. It was a coldblooded murder."

Yesterday, near the building where Morris lived with his daughter in the 8200 block of Bellefonte Lane in the Clinton area, residents sat in plastic chairs and on concrete steps, bewildered by the triviality of the dispute that led to the death of their neighbor. It was the 77th slaying in the county this year.

Police spokesmen identified Morris as the victim but released few details about the slaying.

"It's just senseless that it happened in broad daylight in front of kids," Marshall said.

The trouble began about 4 p.m., when several children pounded on the door of a first-floor apartment in the building, where an 11-year-old boy was playing video games, the law enforcement source said. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

When the boy came to the door, the youths, several of whom live in the building, pulled him outside and began beating him, witnesses and the source said.

The boy's mother said yesterday that her son was playing video games when the fight erupted but denied that the argument began over the games. She declined to give her name for fear of reprisals, but she described what she said were the events that led to the shooting.

"My son went into the house to get a video game, and that's when they knocked to tell him to come here," she said. "When he stuck his head out the door, they grabbed him, and that's when they jumped him."

According to the boy's mother, the five youths beat her son for several minutes before someone contacted her at work. When she returned home a short time later, she confronted the mother of several of the youths.

"I had words with the lady," she said in an interview.

The two women argued for several minutes before a man known by many in the neighborhood as "Mr. T" jumped into the fray and began threatening the mother of the 11-year-old, witnesses said.

Morris, who was known as a fix-it man who would go to anybody's aid, emerged to see what was going on, neighbors said.

"He wasn't doing anything. He was breaking it up," said a 13-year-old boy who witnessed the fight.

The confrontation grew heated, and several neighbors called police. Officers arrived about 5:30 p.m. and learned that "Mr. T" was wanted on several charges and arrested him, according to the source and witnesses. Police did not release the man's name yesterday, and it was unclear whether he was related to the children.

About 7:30 p.m., several men in a vehicle with D.C. license plates drove up to the building, witnesses and the source said. With guns drawn, witnesses said, the men began shouting: "Who called the police? Who called the police?"

Hearing the commotion, Morris again emerged from his apartment. This time, he was confronted by the men, neighbors said. A scuffle ensued. One man punched Morris in the stomach. Another drew a gun, shooting Morris in the head at nearly point-blank range, witnesses and the source said.

Neighbors scattered into a nearby patch of trees as several shots rang out. After the men fled in the vehicle, the mother of the 11-year-old found Morris lying on the ground.

"He was breathing," she said. "His chest was rising and falling. I held his hand. Blood was everywhere."

Morris was pronounced dead a short time later at a hospital, police said.

Morris worked for Carytown Seafood at the commissary at Andrews Air Force Base, said David Whitney, general manager of the Richmond-based company. Attempts to reach Morris's family in Virginia were unsuccessful yesterday.