PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — Four people are dead in four separate shootings in Prince George's County over the span of 48 hours, marking the end of a deadly month for the county. According to police, there were 16 homicides in the county in Jan. 2021 and 6 homicides in Jan. 2020. A quarter of this month's homicides happened over the weekend.
The grisly series of events started around 8:55 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29 when officers said they received a call for a walk-in shooting victim at the hospital around the same time a call for gunshots came in the 2600 block of Shadyside Avenue in Suitland. Police said the man died a short time later.
Officers identified the victim Sunday as 21-year-old Nakia Steward Jr. of D.C.
Police said the next incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. Friday. Officers said they responded to a shooting on the 5300 block of Hamilton Street. Once on scene, police said they discovered a woman in the parking lot suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Police said she was transported to the hospital where she died a short time later.
Police identified the victim as 32-year-old Shauntese Gedeon of Riverdale.
On Saturday Prince George's County Police said a woman was killed in her Upper Marlboro home. 48-year-old Sharone Redding was identified as the victim. Police said she was shot and killed inside her home Saturday night around 9:25 p.m. in 12800 block of Dunkirk Drive.
Police said the preliminary investigation revealed the suspect(s) shot into the home from the outside, hitting the victim. Investigators are working to determine a motive for the shooting. Preliminarily, detectives do not believe this was a random crime.
The victim's cousin Terry Brocks said he was in denial and had to see the house for himself Sunday, which was ridden with bullet holes.
“For something like this to happen is just a shock to everybody," Brocks said. "There’s some evil people in this world, and some people don’t have any respect for life."
Brocks said Redding worked for Metro for more than two decades and was a loving mother, aunt, sister, and daughter.
WMATA confirmed Redding had been an employee of the company.
“I had to come down here myself to see. You see stuff like this on TV thinking it’ll never happen to you, but it happened,” Brocks said.
On Sunday afternoon, a double-shooting occurred in the 4500 block of Dallas Place in Marlow Heights. The call came in around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. Officers found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. One has since died and the other is currently being treated at a hospital.
In a statement Sunday, a spokesperson for Prince George's County Police said, "Any time there is an act of violence committed in the county we are concerned. With regard to the 4 homicides that took place since Friday, preliminarily, we do not believe these incidents were committed at random. Our detectives are working diligently to investigate these incidents. Those investigations are ongoing."
Police said Sunday night all of the incidents are under investigation, but they seem to be isolated incidents. Investigators are working on gathering suspect information and motives, police said.
If you have any information on any of these incidents, please contact PGPD at 1-866-411-TIPS.