Police investigate shooting after crash in Forestville, driver stable

A driver was shot before a two-vehicle crash at Pennsylvania Avenue and Walter Lane in Forestville, leaving Prince George’s County police to sort out whether the wreck was part of the attack or the result of it. The man was found inside one of the vehicles and taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Officers responded to the intersection at about 9:45 p.m. on June 28 after the crash, and investigators determined the shooting happened first. The other vehicle in the collision had occupants who sustained only minor injuries, adding a second emergency scene to a case that began as gunfire.

Police have not publicly identified a suspect, and they have not said how many people may have been involved or where the shooting itself took place. That missing information leaves key public-safety questions unresolved in a busy Forestville corridor where a violent incident could quickly become a traffic hazard, too.

The case also puts a spotlight on how Prince George’s County police handle major incidents across a large jurisdiction. The department describes itself as the fourth-largest law enforcement agency in Maryland, with more than 1,500 officers and 300 civilians serving nearly 900,000 residents and business owners. In a county that size, a shooting tied to a crash can pull in patrol officers, crash investigators and detectives at once.

Police are asking anyone with information to come forward as detectives work to determine who fired the shots, whether the driver was hit before the collision, and whether the wreck was caused by the shooting or happened after the wounded man lost control. The intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Walter Lane sits in a heavily traveled part of Forestville, where a violent scene can spill onto one of the county’s main roadways within seconds.