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Too close to home
University staff and students worry about violence near homes

By Kevin Litten and Jess Milcetich

October 11, 2005

Linda Sutton, a 17-year employee of Dining Services, has lived for 37 years in a quiet Riverdale Heights neighborhood less than three miles from the campus where trick-or-treaters used to visit each Halloween routinely.

“A lot of hangin’ out down on the corner,� she said, has kept the kids away the past few years.

“I miss them,� Sutton said as she glanced down Quintana Street, the site of a triple shooting that claimed two men’s lives and sent a third to a local hospital Sunday night. She looked over several police cars that lined her block yesterday afternoon and recounted how she heard several gunshots the night before.

“I creaked my door open,� Sutton said. “I knew somebody got shot because there was a lot of screaming.�

Though much of Prince George’s County has been consumed by violent crime this year â€â€