3 Killed in Largo Pizzeria Shooting
By Elissa Silverman, Debbi Wilgoren and Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 4, 2008; 10:51 AM
Three young men were shot to death last night after an argument broke out in a crowded Prince George's County restaurant while the Super Bowl was being shown on television there, county police said.
The shooting occurred about 9:15 p.m. at Uno Chicago Grill restaurant, part of a sizable dining, shopping and entertainment complex that replaced the old Capital Centre sports arena in the Largo area.
Terrance Lynne Sneed, 22, of Hyattsville, and Curtis Lee Poston, 26, of Temple Hills, were shot in the bar area of the restaurant, which was filled with scores of patrons, police said. Charles Dontee Harrison, 25, of Landover, fled the restaurant and was gunned down in the parking lot.
Detectives think all three men were killed by a single shooter. Based on preliminary witness accounts, police said they think the three victims began arguing with two other men, one of whom pulled out a gun and began firing.
The two men were also described as being in their 20s. Both were African American, police said, and one had dreadlocks and a light complexion, while the other had darker skin and was heavy-set. Police said one or both suspects fled in a red Dodge Charger. Accounts indicated that the car was driven down a patch of sloping ground to hasten the escape.
It was not known whether the suspects and the victims knew each other or had any contact with each other prior to last night.
Nor was it clear what prompted the argument. A manager at a nearby restaurant said some of his employees heard gunshots about the time the New York Giants scored a touchdown against the New England Patriots. That touchdown, early in the fourth quarter of a tense contest, put the Giants ahead, 10-7. The Giants went on to win the game, 17-14.
But according to Cpl. Stephen Pacheco, a spokesman for county police, investigators do not yet know whether the dispute involved the National Football League championship game.
"We don't know if it had anything to do with it," Pacheco said. "Something happened . . . and someone produced a handgun."
Pacheco said the victims were all apparently shot in the upper body.
Accounts of witnesses, whose names could not be obtained, indicated that the dispute in the restaurant had escalated from words to blows before the shooting.
Cpl. Diane Richardson, a county police spokeswoman, said many of the estimated 60 to 70 people inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting fled before police arrived. Detectives were interviewing those who remained on the scene, as well as relatives of the dead, in an effort to piece together what may have happened.
"It is simply not clear just what started this whole incident," Richardson said today. "We're just hearing too many different things right now."
Uno, a one-story structure with red awnings and a red-brick front, is located on a street called Shoppers Way and is known for its pizza. Someone who answered the telephone last night at the restaurant declined to comment.
Pacheco described the shootings, which took place in a middle-class neighborhood just outside the Capital Beltway, as uncommon. The area is about a mile east of FedEx Field and less than a half-mile north of the Largo Town Center Metro stop.
"It's not an everyday occurrence," Pacheco said. "We're extremely concerned about this."
By Elissa Silverman, Debbi Wilgoren and Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 4, 2008; 10:51 AM
Three young men were shot to death last night after an argument broke out in a crowded Prince George's County restaurant while the Super Bowl was being shown on television there, county police said.
The shooting occurred about 9:15 p.m. at Uno Chicago Grill restaurant, part of a sizable dining, shopping and entertainment complex that replaced the old Capital Centre sports arena in the Largo area.
Terrance Lynne Sneed, 22, of Hyattsville, and Curtis Lee Poston, 26, of Temple Hills, were shot in the bar area of the restaurant, which was filled with scores of patrons, police said. Charles Dontee Harrison, 25, of Landover, fled the restaurant and was gunned down in the parking lot.
Detectives think all three men were killed by a single shooter. Based on preliminary witness accounts, police said they think the three victims began arguing with two other men, one of whom pulled out a gun and began firing.
The two men were also described as being in their 20s. Both were African American, police said, and one had dreadlocks and a light complexion, while the other had darker skin and was heavy-set. Police said one or both suspects fled in a red Dodge Charger. Accounts indicated that the car was driven down a patch of sloping ground to hasten the escape.
It was not known whether the suspects and the victims knew each other or had any contact with each other prior to last night.
Nor was it clear what prompted the argument. A manager at a nearby restaurant said some of his employees heard gunshots about the time the New York Giants scored a touchdown against the New England Patriots. That touchdown, early in the fourth quarter of a tense contest, put the Giants ahead, 10-7. The Giants went on to win the game, 17-14.
But according to Cpl. Stephen Pacheco, a spokesman for county police, investigators do not yet know whether the dispute involved the National Football League championship game.
"We don't know if it had anything to do with it," Pacheco said. "Something happened . . . and someone produced a handgun."
Pacheco said the victims were all apparently shot in the upper body.
Accounts of witnesses, whose names could not be obtained, indicated that the dispute in the restaurant had escalated from words to blows before the shooting.
Cpl. Diane Richardson, a county police spokeswoman, said many of the estimated 60 to 70 people inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting fled before police arrived. Detectives were interviewing those who remained on the scene, as well as relatives of the dead, in an effort to piece together what may have happened.
"It is simply not clear just what started this whole incident," Richardson said today. "We're just hearing too many different things right now."
Uno, a one-story structure with red awnings and a red-brick front, is located on a street called Shoppers Way and is known for its pizza. Someone who answered the telephone last night at the restaurant declined to comment.
Pacheco described the shootings, which took place in a middle-class neighborhood just outside the Capital Beltway, as uncommon. The area is about a mile east of FedEx Field and less than a half-mile north of the Largo Town Center Metro stop.
"It's not an everyday occurrence," Pacheco said. "We're extremely concerned about this."
