Lassie Avenue, 3215, home sale reported

LASSIE AVE ., 3215-Wilbur P. and Elva B.O. Connor to Marvin Plater, $148,500. 

Aberdeen Street, 3412, home sale reported

ABERDEEN ST ., 3412-Jeannette A. Langley trust to E. Shirley M. and Louis G. Butler, $155,000

Kevin Nigel Morse, Weltham Street, 3400 block

Washington Post - Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Author:Jamie Stockwell, Washington Post Staff Writer

Homicides have been committed in Prince George's County this year at a rate of two a week, and there already have been 13 more homicides in the county than there were all last year, according to police department statistics.

Eighty-four people have been killed in the county this year, compared with 63 in the same period last year. But there have been few arrests, according to press statements and department statistics.

Officials have announced the arrests of 12 individuals in a total of nine homicides. A department spokeswoman said a current arrest figure was not available.

The county's most recent homicide occurred Friday night, when a 35-year-old man was shot just steps from where others were pumping gas at a Temple Hills Shell service station across the street from the Naylor Road Metro station, police said.

Cpl. Diane Richardson, a spokeswoman for the department, said witnesses told the responding officers that the victim, identified as Kerwin Nigel Morse, of the 3400 block of Weltham Street in Temple Hills, was standing near a dumpster with two other men about 11 p.m. when he was shot once. Witnesses said the gunman may have fled in a car. Morse was pronounced dead at Greater Southeast Community Hospital a short time later, Richardson said.

Richardson said police have investigated seven armed robberies on the gas station property since April. None of the robberies has been of the service station, where a bulletproof partition separates customers from employees and the door facing the tiny parking lot is always locked.

The robbery suppression team of the Oxon Hill Police District, which includes the Shell station in the 3300 block of Naylor Road, has set up surveillance at the station, Richardson said, but because of the sporadic nature of robberies, there have been no arrests.

Neighbors have complained of drug dealing at the service station, and police said they are investigating those allegations.

As of yesterday, detectives had established neither a motive nor a suspect in Morse's death, but they were searching for two white cars that witnesses said sped from the parking lot immediately after the shooting. They ask that anyone with information about the incident call the department's Crime Solvers at 301-735-1111.

The owner of the Shell station said yesterday that he is concerned about the many drive-by shootings and armed robberies that have taken place on or near the premises, including one three weeks ago, when a man pumping gas was robbed of $80.

"We try to do what we can to keep that away from here, but it just happens," said Dennis Pariseau, the owner. "We just have to be alert."

The Shell station is about an eighth of a mile from the Naylor Road Metro stop and is around the block from the six-lane, heavily traveled Branch Avenue. Tucked between two seemingly deserted grassy areas and across the street from the Crab Cafe, the gas station appears to attract loiterers, said one resident who lives behind the establishment.

Jeff Lyle said his wife worked at the station until the evening he witnessed the man being robbed of $80. It happened about 7 p.m. three weeks ago, when he and his daughter walked to the station from their nearby apartment to visit his wife, he said.

"What I saw made me stop in my steps," he said. "There was a guy with a gun holding a man hostage at the pump and took him for all his cash. I talked to him after the guy fled, and he was shaken up and angry."

Lyle said he worries about families who live within steps of the gas station.

"Kids go there to buy candy, and people stop to get gas on their way to and from the Metro station," he said. "People should just really be aware, because you never know [what will] happen."

Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.

Edition: F
Section: Metro
Page: B1
Record Number: 102301XB01Pr2048
Copyright 2001 The Washington Post

Temple Hills man found murdered
Gazette, Oct. 26, 2001
- Greg Johnson

Police have identified the Temple Hills man found shot to death Friday on Naylor Road.

Kerwin Nigel Morse, 35, of the 3400 block of Weltham Street, was found lying on the ground in the 3500 block of Naylor Road suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital were he was pronounced dead.

Police said they have not suspects or motives in the shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Prince George's County Crime Solvers unit at 301-735-1111 or 1-800-673-2777.

Andover Place, 3400 block, theft, 1:52 pm

Andover Place, 3400 block, robbery, 1:08 pm

Weltham Street, 3419, home sale reported

WELTHAM ST ., 3419-Laura D. Katsiftis to Erica J. Tolson and Ramonz A. Height, $142,900. 

Bonita Street, 3408, home sale reported

BONITA ST ., 3408-Veronica and Aurelio Crisafulli to Erica Johnson, $144,500.

Lassie Avenue, 3200 block, theft, 8:35 pm

Aberdeen Street, 3400 block, theft, 1:18 pm

Aberdeen Street, 3400 block, theft from vehicle, 6:08 am

Andover Place, 3400 block, residential break-in, 1:47 pm

Bonita Street, 3400 block, theft, 8:45 am

Scottish Avenue and Curtis Drive, theft, 5:23 pm

Andover Place & Old Silver Hill Road, arrest in connection with a theft, 1:14 pm