A 25-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were fatally shot in separate incidents in Greenbelt over the weekend. Meanwhile, another man died Sunday after succumbing to injuries from an earlier shooting. Juan Gonzalez, 25; Carltin Bayong, 14; and Mancel Johnson, 49, were all fatally shot in the Franklin Park area of the city. Gonzalez was shot at approximately 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, October 4 in the 6200 block of Springhill Court. Bayong was shot on Sunday, October 5 at approximately 1:45 p.m. in Cherrywood Terrace. Johnson was shot on September 12 at approximately 9:25 p.m. in the 6150 court of Springhill Terrace and, after being hospitalized in critical condition, he died Sunday (for reports on this shooting see the September 18 and September 25 issues). Gonzalez and Johnson were not Greenbelt residents, but the teenaged boy lived in Greenbelt and was a student at Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS).
Local Teen Mourned
The murder of the local 14-year-old student, in what is thought to be a targeted drive-by shooting in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, has particularly shaken the community. Witnesses report seeing a silver Infiniti with dark tinted windows and no front license plate, driving at a high rate of speed into the area. Police believe there were multiple occupants in the vehicle and multiple rounds of gunshots were fired at a group of youths, resulting in Bayong being struck. The car then fled from the scene. Greenbelt police officers responded and attempted to provide life-saving care, said Greenbelt Police Chief Richard Bowers, but ultimately the boy died from his injuries.
On Monday, ERHS Principal Portia Barnes sent a message to the community identifying the student as Carltin Bayong of the class of 2029. His death was “due to neighborhood gun violence,” she said. Barnes asked those who knew him to remember and celebrate his life and asked for understanding, respect and support from those who did not. A team of school psychologists, professional school counselors and pupil personnel workers from Prince George’s County Public Schools joined staff Monday morning to provide support to students. “Counseling will continue to be available as long as necessary,” said Barnes in a message to the school community.
Targeted Gun Violence
Police say the weekend shootings were not by chance. “We believe at this point that these were known individuals and that everybody involved in both incidents was familiar with each other. This was not a random event,” said Bowers of the two fatal shootings that took place during daylight hours on the weekend. Because they were targeted, “that doesn’t necessarily equal a larger public safety concern,” he said on Monday. Greenbelt Police have added a number of additional police officers in both marked and unmarked cars to patrol particularly in the Franklin Park area but also across the entire city. Speaking on Monday Bowers said he wanted to assure residents “our community is safe,” and added, “These incidents, while tragic, don’t mean that the City of Greenbelt is not a safe place to live or to visit.”
Location
All three fatal shootings took place close to each other, in the Franklin Park community. There are three schools in that area: Springhill Lake Elementary, Greenbelt Middle and Dora Kennedy French Immersion, though they were not in session at the time of the shootings. Police say they believe the shootings were unrelated.
A representative from Fieldstone Properties, which owns Franklin Park at Greenbelt Station Apartments, did not respond to our request for comment on how the apartment management is responding to the recent shootings. Calls to Franklin Park were fielded by AI and messages yielded no callback at press time.
Search for Solutions
Both shootings on the weekend “are extraordinarily tragic and serve as a stark reminder that violence threatens our community and that words will not solve our problem,” said Bowers. He noted both of the victims last weekend were young people who would be missed by families and loved ones.
“How do we come together as not only a city here in Greenbelt but a county and a state that continues to see young people involved in violent incidents on a regular basis?” asked Bowers on Monday.
“As long as we leave it up to kids to stop crime it’s never going to happen,” he said.
“We have to start trying to solve these things and find solutions,” said Bowers. “It starts with adults and it’s starting at home by parents who instill values in their kids; it starts in our school systems where we have an ability to teach our kids values. Then it’s the social justice system, the criminal justice system that provide the safety net for kids who have a difficult time growing up.” Bowers noted that he had made a similar speech 18 months ago following the Senior Skip Day shooting at Schrom Hills Park, though fortunately no one lost their life then (see the April 24, 2024, issue).
Mayor Emmett Jordan said the community grieves together and has to work together to get to the root causes of these tragic events and work with young adults, in particular, to “interrupt” the gun violence before it happens.
Call for Witnesses
Bowers said the police are looking for assistance from residents and need some of the multiple witnesses to come forward. Some youths don’t want to talk because they don’t want to be considered snitches, he acknowledged. “It’s not being a snitch; it’s called doing the right thing,” said Bowers. “Without that information something else like this could happen again,” he warned. “It could happen to them or their friend.” He asked parents to convince their children it’s the right thing to do to come forward and provide information. Information can be provided anonymously by reaching out to the police department, said Bowers.
Police have conducted their initial investigation, said Bowers. They are now pulling camera data, license plate reader data, interviewing witnesses and exploring forensics and cellphones, among other avenues. “We have a lot of work in front of us but we have all the tools that we need to get there,” said Bowers.
