A teenage boy is in critical but stable condition after being shot on the 900 block of Larchmont Avenue in Capitol Heights, Maryland, on Tuesday night, according to police. The shooting happened around 8:40 p.m., and officers who responded found the boy wounded before he was rushed to a hospital.
Prince George's County Police have not identified a suspect or a motive in the shooting, as reported by FOX 5 DC. Police describe the investigation as active and ongoing, though no further details about what led up to the gunfire have been released.
The 900 block of Larchmont Avenue falls within the territory of the Prince George's County Police Department's District VIII station, which opened in Upper Marlboro in October 2019 to cover an 18-square-mile stretch that includes Capitol Heights, Coral Hills, Suitland, and District Heights, according to Bowie, MD Patch. The station was created to relieve the former District III station in Landover and cut down response times across some of the county's busiest sectors.
A Corridor With a History of Violence
Larchmont Avenue itself has seen violent crime investigations before. The corridor was the scene of a fatal shooting at the intersection of Larchmont Avenue and Emo Street back in June 2012, and an April 2020 homicide case that ended with the arrest of a suspect who lived on the 700 block of the same street, per the Washington Examiner. Because Capitol Heights relies on county resources for major violent crime, the Prince George's County Police Homicide Unit typically leads felony investigations along the corridor.
This is not the only recent case of gun violence involving a young victim in Capitol Heights this year. In May, homicide detectives arrested a 20-year-old suspect in connection with the February shooting death of a 19-year-old on the 500 block of Abel Avenue, a case Hoodline previously covered after the suspect was picked up during an unrelated traffic stop in Washington, D.C.
Countywide Violence Has Dropped, But Youth Shootings Persist
The Tuesday night shooting comes even as Prince George's County has seen significant declines in overall violent crime. Annual statistics released by county police in December showed a 19% drop in violent crime compared to 2024, along with a decrease in juvenile homicide victims from nine in 2024 to five in 2025, according to Police1. Countywide, investigators logged 65 homicides through late December 2025, a decline of more than 30% from the 114 homicides recorded in 2024, marking the first time the county's annual total dropped below 100 since 2020, per that same report.
Still, isolated incidents of gun violence involving minors continue to challenge police and community leaders even as the broader trend line improves. Capitol Heights also sits directly along Washington, D.C.'s Ward 7 border, a geography that has repeatedly put local shootings and pursuits in the middle of cross-jurisdictional coordination between Prince George's County Police and D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department, as Hoodline has reported before.
Curfew Rules and Community Outreach in Capitol Heights
Prince George's County has maintained a youth curfew since reactivating a 1995 ordinance during a 2022 crime surge, requiring minors under 17 to be off public streets between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on weeknights and between midnight and 5 a.m. on weekends, according to DCist. It remains unclear whether Tuesday's shooting, which happened around 8:40 p.m., falls before or after those curfew windows apply to the teen victim.
County police also run regular community policing efforts in Capitol Heights, including “Morning Coffee with PGPD Community Officers” events and high-visibility “Blue Lights Nights” safety operations along commercial corridors like Walker Mill Road, according to the Prince George's County Police Department. Those outreach efforts have run alongside state-level investment, after Governor Wes Moore highlighted $124.1 million in direct funding for local law enforcement in May, including the $70 million ENOUGH initiative that specifically covers Capitol Heights.
Anyone with information about Tuesday's shooting is asked to contact Prince George's County Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS, online at pgcrimesolvers.com, or through the P3 Tips mobile app. Detectives have not said whether they have identified any leads as the investigation continues.
