A 16-year-old boy was found shot and killed in Fort Washington on Monday evening, authorities said.
Elijah Fletcher, of Fort Washington, was the victim, Prince George’s County police said.
Fletcher was found with gunshot wounds in an apartment building in the 8300 block of Indian Head Highway. Officers responded at about 5:40 p.m. Fletcher was pronounced dead on the scene.
A number of shots were fired inside a ground-floor laundry room. Bullet holes could be seen in a door and a wall. One of the shots flew into a resident’s home.
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“One came through my bedroom wall, hit my TV,” a resident said.
A number of officers and investigators could be seen outside the building.
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An investigation is underway, and detectives are working to learn what happened and who shot Fletcher.
The teen’s death marks the fourth homicide in the area in the past week. Two men were shot and killed in the 800 block of Irvington Street on Wednesday, and a man was shot and killed in the 6800 block of Haven Avenue on Friday.
Anyone with potentially relevant information is asked to contact police. Tipsters may remain anonymous. A reward of up to $25,000 is available.
Prince George's County teens talk about what's fueling violence
Less than 24 hours after Fletcher was killed, students at Flowers High School told County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy what they feel is fueling violence.
They said the pandemic has left them with PTSD, and their parents are not listening to them. It was a session in the school’s auditorium that the state’s attorney called “powerful.”
Alsobrooks and Braveboy said they wanted to better understand what's going on in the lives of young people, especially after the shooting death of 16-year-old Jayda Medrano Moore, who was shot while leaving school with her brother last month.
"This was one of the most consequential conversations any of us have had with the young people, who were so courageous today to share with us what they were feeling," Alsobrooks said.
The county’s two top elected officials said the students told them social media is linked to a lot of the violence.
“The isolation they described, the anxiety, the depression, the fact the pandemic made them feel they are growing up too quickly because of the incessant connection to social media," Alsobrooks said.
“One of the things they said is you can develop kind of your own persona on social media, and that’s why guns become so important for these young people, who want to act like tough guys or girls, and so having those guns and being on social media with those weapons gives off a persona that they, you know, want to show the world," Braveboy said.
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Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
