Father's Day Tragedy in Capitol Heights

For John Charles Crawford's two little girls, Father's Day will always be the day their dad was killed when he confronted a masked intruder at their home in Capitol Heights.

Crawford, 28, was shot in the head Sunday as he, his fiancee and their two daughters returned to their house in the 400 block of Zelma Avenue after watching a movie, Prince George's County police said. The fiancee noticed when they arrived just before 1:30 a.m. that their front room had been ransacked, police said.

Crawford sent his family back outside and went into the house to investigate, police said. His fiancee told police that she heard gunfire and ran back into the house to find Crawford shot in the head.

"She saw the assailant, who was wearing a mask, run down the sidewalk," Officer Henry Tippett, a police spokesman, said yesterday. "He may or may not have gotten into a light-colored car that was parked in the area where she saw him."

Police did not release the name of Crawford's fiancee or the ages of their daughters.

The shooting happened near the end of a narrow, quiet street. About a dozen neighbors said yesterday that most residents keep to themselves. None knew Crawford's family by name. Aside from a few petty thefts, their enclave has avoided crime over the years, residents said.

Neighbors described Crawford as a quiet family man who walked his daughters to and from the bus stop most days and frequently played with them in the front yard, always accompanied by the family dog.

"He was just your average neighbor," said Gary Sanders, 35, who works for a local telephone company and lives next door with his two children.

Event organizer Gloria Brooks said Crawford ran a catering business that he called Crazee Dogs. She said the company was scheduled to provide food for a car show Saturday at the North Brentwood Recreation Center.

"I hadn't met him, but he had a winning personality over the phone," she said. "I was looking forward to working with him."

State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said such killings are rare, even in a county that has averaged 114 homicides a year for the last decade. This year, police said, 59 people have been killed, compared with 68 by the same time last year -- a 13 percent decrease. Crawford's slaying was the 58th homicide of the year. Last year, 141 people were slain in the county.

"Certainly, my heart goes out to the kids," Ivey said. "The whole family is suffering, but for the kids who will always remember losing their dad on Father's Day, that is a real heartbreaker."

Police yesterday sealed the front door of Crawford's house. A sign in a front window warned visitors to "Beware of Dog," a mini trampoline lay overturned on the front lawn, and a toy basketball lay in a corner of the yard. In the driveway under a tarp sat Crawford's red Chevrolet Cutlass, next to three grills that neighbors said he cooked on frequently, even in winter.

David Randall, 38, said he was awakened when his daughter ran into his room early Sunday to tell him she had heard gunshots. He said he has struggled to sleep since the shooting, and his daughters, ages 10 and 16, went to visit their grandmother yesterday because they did not want to be in the neighborhood where the shooting had occurred.

"It was wild to see something like that happen to a guy on Father's Day," Randall said.

Vernon R. Herron, the county's director of homeland security, said: "Our hearts go out to the family. We will surely do everything we can to bring this case to a conclusion."