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Police charge man in shooting
Double shooting was less than two miles from campus
By Kevin Litten

October 19, 2005

A man charged in the Oct. 11 killing of a Hyattsville man less than two miles from the campus was ordered held without bond at a district court hearing Monday, a court commissioner said.

Police said Franklin Osmin Sanchez, 20, was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 35-year-old Jose Ventura. Ventura was killed in the double shooting off University Boulevard in Langley Park Oct. 11 that left another man seriously injured, according to a press release from Prince George’s County Police. Sanchez was arrested Oct. 13.

The shooting took place in the early evening hours of Oct. 11 on Guilford Road near the University City apartment complex.

Police on the scene that night said the victims were sitting in their car when a man fired shots into their Chrysler.

After gunfire erupted, Ventura attempted to drive the vehicle from the scene but crashed into a van parked near University Boulevard. The passenger, who had been shot in the leg, attempted to flee the scene but returned to the vehicle shortly after the crash.

Both victims were transported to a local hospital where Ventura was pronounced dead. Police said the other victim, whose name was not released, had non-life threatening injuries.

The shooting happened less than 48 hours after two men were killed and another injured in a triple shooting that took place less than three miles from the campus on Quintana Street in Riverdale. The men in that shooting were also sitting in a vehicle on a neighborhood street close to a major roadway.

The murders in such close proximity to the campus highlight the larger problem with violence that has engulfed Prince George’s County this year. To date, 140 homicides have been reported since January, compared with 116 during the same period in 2004, according to county police statistics.

At least some of the violence has been attributed to gang activity, as police have expressed concern over an increase in graffiti they say may be the work of the Latino gang Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13.

Residents in Langley Park, where Ventura was killed, told The Washington Post they believed MS-13 might be behind a series of area slashings that took place in August. Police spokeswoman Cpl. Kim Brown said it was unclear whether last week’s shooting was gang related.

“Everything is possible,� Brown said. “[Investigators] haven't determined whether it's gang related or not.�

In the Quintana Street killings, police spokeswoman Cpl. Diane Richardson said officials were also looking into whether the shootings were gang-related.

“Based on the information that investigators developed we’re looking into the possibility� of whether it’s gang related, she said.