WASHINGTON — Prince George’s County police have charged a 27-year-old man with first-degree murder in the 2009 fatal shooting of a woman who had gathered with friends for a high school graduation party in Landover, Maryland.
Police said Larry Recio, of Lanham, Maryland, opened fire on a group of four people, including 19-year-old Shai Caldwell, of Bowie, shortly before midnight on June 2, 2009. Caldwell died of her injuries several hours later; the three other victims survived.
Recio has been charged with first-degree murder and several counts of attempted first-degree murder. Police said they believe he opened fire during a dispute with another group of men, and they do not believe Caldwell or the three other people who were shot were the intended victims.
Recio is currently an inmate at Hazelton Federal Correctional Institution, a medium-security federal prison in West Virginia, on unrelated charges.
Recio was sentenced in December to five years in prison for a felony possession of illegally possessing a firearm, according to online court records. Police arrested in May 2015 after being spotted by a Prince George’s County police gang unit on the street with a handgun, according to court documents.
He had previously been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in prison, making it illegal for him to possess a firearm.
Prince George’s County police said Recio is scheduled to be released from federal prison as early as 2019 and will be extradited to Prince George’s County where he’ll face the charges in Caldwell’s death.
Authorities said the break in the case came after the cold case unit turned up additional witnesses and evidence linking Recio to the shooting.
Police said anyone with information about Recio should call the police homicide unit at 301-772-4925. If you want to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477), text “PGPD plus your message” to CRIMES (274637) on your cellphone or go to www.pgcrimesolvers.com and submit a tip online.
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