Slayings of Latinos Increasing in Prince George's

In Prince George's County, where young black males have overwhelmingly dominated homicide statistics for decades, young Latino males in recent months were nearly as likely to be killed.

From mid-March to mid-May, Latinos were victims in 10 of 24 homicides. For the year, Latinos now account for 21 percent of all homicides investigated by county police, up from an average of less than 13 percent over the past five years.

Nearly all the slayings occurred in or around Langley Park. Although officers there have made determined efforts in recent years, language barriers and an immigrant population sometimes reluctant to cooperate with police mean the slayings are among the hardest to solve.

"There has definitely been an increase in the number of Latino homicides in the last 60 days or so," Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said. "It's definitely a problem."

Police officers, community leaders and doctors serving the county's Latino population said anecdotal evidence, including increased numbers of Virginia license plates, suggests the immigrant population is surging in Langley Park amid the crackdown in parts of neighboring Virginia.

County police spokeswoman Sharon Taylor cautioned against drawing broad conclusions about the increase. "These things go in cycles; you could just as easily have a string of 10 or 12 black murders," she said.

The county has led the Washington region in Latino homicides in recent years, and as a percentage of Prince George's population, Latinos appear to be dying at an increasingly disproportionate rate. Although they account for more than one of every five homicides this year, Latinos make up less than 12 percent of the county's population, according to 2006 census estimates, the latest available.

Of the 10 homicides that occurred between mid-March and mid-May, investigators have classified two as gang-related. Another was an officer-involved shooting that remains under investigation. Three appear to have begun as arguments, and four occurred during apparent robberies. Police say immigrants are increasingly targeted for robberies, particularly on Friday nights, because they're known to carry around their weekly earnings in cash.

Of the four homicides in which police have made arrests, including both alleged gang killings, one of which took the life of a 15-year-old, charges point to Latino-on-Latino crime in every case. The remaining cases are unsolved, but many contain hallmarks that suggest killers knew their victims, police said.

John Realpe Montoya was killed execution style April 25, knelt down and shot in the back of the head. The body of Juan Carlos Guzman was found mutilated in a park May 12 -- shot and stabbed so many times that police close to the investigation say it appeared the killer was trying to make a point.

Some appear to have begun with senseless arguments, however, and community leaders say those killings are tied to a lethal combination of overcrowding and alcohol, most evident in a cluster of low-rent apartment complexes two miles northeast of the District line.

Charged with first-degree murder, Cesar Euelder Carbajal-Aldana is accused of killing Isaias Lopez-Vail on May 4 with a bat and a broken beer bottle after a night of drinking. Law enforcement sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said they found Carbajal-Aldana a few doors away, bloodied and inebriated; he never left the building.