A 13-year-girl was fatally shot this week amid a spate of homicides in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, in what otherwise has been a relatively quiet year for murders in the jurisdiction just outside Washington.
“What we are seeing is impulse crimes, where people are solving disputes with weapons and violence rather than talking things out or walking away,” Prince George’s Police Chief George Nader said Wednesday as he announced an arrest in the teen’s shooting.
Marcos Melendez-Umanzor, 20, of Hyattsville, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Any Davalos in the Langley Park area. Police also accused him of shooting another girl, 14, during the incident. She was critically injured but is expected to survive, police said Thursday.
According to court filings, the surviving teen called 911 just before 2 a.m. Tuesday. Officers found both victims, bullet cartridge casings and two cellphones, the filings state. The 14-year-old told police that she, Davalos and a person she knew as “Chele” and “Gringo” had been hanging out behind an apartment building when Davalos and Melendez-Umanzor began arguing.
“The suspect produced a firearm and opened fire,” detectives wrote in an arrest affidavit.
The survivor allowed detectives to retrieve “Gringo’s” cellphone number in her phone, records show. They got a warrant to learn recent location data for the phone, according to records, and learned it belonged to Melendez-Umanzor and was in the area of the shootings at the time they occurred.
Melendez-Umanzor was arrested late Tuesday, ordered held without bond and was expected to appear before a Prince George’s district judge Thursday afternoon. Records indicate he is being represented by the Maryland public defender’s office. Officials there did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The 13-year-old, Davalos, had been reported missing on Oct. 27 from neighboring Montgomery County, having last been seen nine days earlier.
“She was so young, 13. Her life was just really beginning,” Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy said at the arrest announcement Wednesday.
Nader said investigators don’t have any clear links among the seven murders since Oct. 29. Investigators have made arrests in two of the other cases, he said.
The county police have recorded 40 murders this year, as of Wednesday, compared with 55 for the same period for 2025, a total that was lower than the year before.
“We never take a victory lap on those numbers,” Nader said. “When I’ll take a victory is when those numbers are zero.”
The chief said that for the families of murder victims, homicide trends are meaningless.
“If there’s one homicide and it’s your family, it’s just as impactful as if there were more,” he said.
The string of recent killings began, police said, with three on the morning of Oct. 29.
At 4:15 a.m., police said, Jose Edin Hernandez Vasquez, 26, was stabbed in the 9900 block of 51st Terrace in the College Park area. At 5:15 a.m., police said, Derrick Bowen, 55, was shot in the 1700 block of Belle Haven Drive in the Landover area. At 10:55 a.m., police said, Omar Jonathan Ventura Ajbal, 18, was shot in the Langley-Hampshire Neighborhood Park.
Two days later, on Saturday, Domingo Saavedra-Escalona, 50, was shot on Quire Avenue in the Capitol Heights area. Police charged Anthony Javier Rubio, 19, in the case. He was ordered held without bond, according to court filings.
On Sunday, Diontay Jackson, 20, was fatally shot. Charging documents for three suspects describe the kind of motive described by Nader: Residents trying to solve disputes on their own with violence.
According to investigators, a 26-year-old Landover woman — having broken up with her girlfriend — felt disrespected by the woman’s son and let her know.
“I got some for both of y’all,” Wonnae Bridgeforth texted, according to charging documents. “I’m on the phone wit my folks.”
That led to Bridgeforth — along with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend — showing up at an apartment where the son lived. During an ensuing confrontation, the son — Jackson — was fatally shot, according to court records.
Police identified the other two at the apartment with Wonnae Bridgeforth as her sister, Wonnese Bridgeforth, 24, and De’Andre Reid, 23. All three have been charged with first-degree murder and other counts, and remain held without bond, according to court records. All three were represented in recent court hearings by the Public Defender’s Office, which did not return emails seeking comment.
Nader said his homicide detectives have closed 80 percent of their cases this year. “If you commit a homicide in Prince George County, we’re going to find you,” he said.
He urged those considering violence to think about the consequences.
“We need you take that extra second to understand what your life is going to look like after this, once we incarcerate you,” he said. “It’s a lot of lives that get ruined. Your family’s life, if you’re the suspect, the victim’s family’s lives if they’re related to the person.”
The post Fatal shooting of 13-year-old is Prince George’s 7th killing in a week appeared first on Washington Post.
