Police are investigating why five young men were shot in Capitol Heights, Maryland, Tuesday, wounding four and killing one.
Eighteen-year-old Reginald Brown III was killed in a barrage of gunfire in the 4700 block of Pard Road when he was hanging out with his friends, one of whom was shot twice in the arm. Police are looking for at least one suspect and a motive, though they do not believe the shooting was random. But according to Brown’s friends, this most recent act of violence is simply systematic.
“I’ve lost a few good friends due to the crap around here,” said one of the injured. “People can’t even bring their kids out here to sit on the porch like this.”
Many in the area hoped that the violence would decrease when the crime-riddled Chapel Wood apartments were ripped down. According to his friends, Brown’s death is evidence that change isn’t coming fast enough.
“We have a young man dead out here for nothing,” said the friend. “The society we live in today is messed up.”
