Shortly after a broken-up house party made its way to Route 1 on Thursday night, police were called to respond again — this time, sending a helicopter and more than 15 cruisers to the scene.
Prince George’s County Police received a report of a fight near McDonald’s on Route 1 at about 12:50 a.m., as more than 200 people gathered in the restaurant’s parking lot, according to a police blog; while working to clear the area, officers reported shots were fired toward the crowd from multiple suspects, including from a small SUV in the parking lot. Maj. Robert Brewer said the incident stemmed from the house party a few blocks away.
“All the kids from the house party started congregating around Route 1,” he said, adding that the events were not gang-related.
An officer approached a vehicle with two men inside, one of whom matched a suspect description, and the car drove south on Route 1 toward the campus before being pulled over by police at Campus Drive, Limansky said.
The passenger reportedly exited the car and fled before officers caught him and recovered a handgun nearby, Limansky said. Police arrested both suspects and searched the area for a third individual they believe fled the scene, but was not in the vehicle that drove down Route 1, he said.
Officers charged 18-year-old Melvyn Douglas Watson of Bladensburg with 10 counts and 20-year-old Dikimbe Rasheed David-Brandon with nine counts, including multiple charges of reckless endangerment, weapons charges and theft of less than $1,000, according to court records.
Watson faced charges of armed car-jacking and first-degree assault, among others, in 2009 before they were dismissed, according to court records. David-Brandon was previously charged with armed robbery, second-degree assault and theft less than $1,000 in 2010, but the charges were not pursued, records show.
County police are continuing their investigation to find a third suspect — according to the police blog, another officer reported seeing a man shooting toward the crowd in the parking lot and chased the suspect toward Pontiac Street, but did not apprehend the individual.
As police cruisers continued to respond to the area surrounding McDonald’s, several officers — including one wearing a bulletproof vest — stood at the curb of the parking lot with three or four seated men.
A McDonald’s chair was overturned outside the front of the restaurant, which was closed to customers at about 1:15 a.m.
A McDonald’s manager declined to comment after an officer approached the front doors and motioned to the employees with a thumbs up.
The incident came about a month after another incident of gun violence — on July 4, a 21-year-old College Park man was charged in an officer-involved shooting outside the same McDonald’s.
However, Brewer said shootings are rare in the city and most witnesses of Friday’s incident were not residents.
“Most of the people we were able to make contact with weren’t from College Park,” he said. “They were visiting different bars or coming to this party.”
Staff writer Fola Akinnibi contributed to this report.
lurye@umdbk.com
