On the evening of January 30, 2019, gunfire in the 5000 block of 57th Avenue in Bladensburg left two men dead. Officers from the town and Prince George’s County Police responded to reports of a shooting at about 5:05 p.m. and found 23-year-old Jonathan Contreras and 24-year-old Varney Batener Jr. outside with serious gunshot wounds. Both were taken to a nearby hospital and died a short time later.

Detectives determined the deaths occurred after a prearranged meeting tied to an illegal drug transaction. According to the investigation, Contreras and Batener met inside a vehicle, an argument broke out, and both men produced firearms and shot one another. The probe was closed with the finding that each man’s wounds had been inflicted by the other.

Did anyone in Bladensburg recognize either man or have information about that meeting or the events leading up to it?