[RP TownTalk] depressing news of local violence

[Dwight Holmes]

Yet another incidence of violence in our area -- stabbing/murder in
front of Parkdale High yesterday...  drive-by shooting/murders in
Hyattsville; rape on Kenilworth.. now this...

Student, 15, Fatally Stabbed as He Leaves School

By Hamil R. Harris and Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 3, 2008; B02

Prince George's County police are investigating the fatal stabbing of
a 15-year-old Parkdale High School student yesterday as he walked home
from school.

The incident occurred about 2:40 p.m. just off school grounds in the
6100 block of Good Luck Road in the Riverdale area. Students had been
dismissed for the day when the attack occurred.

Police said the victim was walking near the bus entrance to the school
when a tan car approached him and words were exchanged between the
student and at least one person in the car. Homicide Capt. Robert
Nealon said last night that the student's name was not being released
to protect family members and acquaintances of the victim, a police
spokesman said.

"An individual got out of the car and had an altercation with the
victim," said Cpl. Clinton Copeland, a county police spokesman. At one
point, he pulled out a sharp object and stabbed the victim in the
chest, Copeland said.

Police said yesterday that they had made no arrests.

"He was doing what a parent would want him to do," Prince George's
County Police Chief Melvin C. High said of the victim. "He attended
school. He was leaving, and some thug comes along and attacks this
young person. It was an absolutely senseless thing."

High held a news conference at the school yesterday afternoon.

As police investigated, Parkdale students and staff struggled to
comprehend how violence had occurred on a sunny afternoon, a stone's
throw from what they characterized as a generally quiet school.

"Parkdale is very peaceful," said English teacher Neville Adams, who
was inside the school when the stabbing occurred. "There are only a
couple of fights a month, and some of those aren't even fights, just
loud arguments where a lot of students gather around. There aren't the
kinds of problems that some high schools have with a lot of violence
and gangs."

Yesterday's incident was the second time this year a student has been
killed walking home from school in Prince George's. On Jan. 8,
Cherrese Richardson-Frederick, 17, a senior at Charles Flowers High
School, was shot as she walked on Ardwick-Ardmore Road, near the
school. Jeffrey D. Boddie II, 17, Terrence R. Martin, 18, and Marcus
A. Reynolds, 19, all of Lanham, are awaiting trial. Each is charged
with first-degree murder in the attack, which injured two other
people.

Following word of the stabbing, the school was locked down and
students taking part in extracurricular activities were initially
prevented from leaving. Later in the afternoon, the students who had
called their parents were escorted by school administrators to nearby
Kenilworth Avenue, where their parents picked them up.

Police closed Good Luck Road in both directions yesterday afternoon.

During the news conference, High said that his officers work hard to
ensure students' safety when they go to school and that parents should
know that his department takes school safety seriously.

High was joined by a spokesman for the schools and Capt. Robert Kiker
of the sheriff's office.

Kiker said there was no indication that a fight or any other recent
event would have led to the stabbing.

"We don't know what prompted the attack," he said.

The parents of a student who apparently witnessed the attack said they
went to the school to pick up their son, only to learn that he had
been taken to police headquarters for questioning.

"He saw something," said the father, who did not want to be named
because his child is a possible witness. "That is why the police
stopped him."

In an interview yesterday afternoon, Prince George's School
Superintendent John W. Deasy said he was visiting a school when he
heard that a student had been attacked on Good Luck Road. He said he
called police and sheriff's officials to confirm the report, then
dispatched officials to the school while he went to the hospital.

"I was closest to Prince George's Hospital [Center], so I went to the
trauma center and was with the youth," Deasy said. "Then, his dad came
and we went and picked up his mom, who came by subway. We provided
them with counseling and support."

Deasy said he spoke to the parents in Spanish. He expressed sadness at
the number of students who die each year from violence. The child was
the fifth Prince George's student to have died in a week: Two drowned,
one was killed in a hit-and-run car accident and one died from
injuries he suffered in a shooting over spring break, Deasy said.

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.

-- 
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Sunday May 4, 2008 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

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