Christopher Donald Smith was 16 when he was found dead late on the night of February 6, 2012, along a wooded edge near the 5300 block of 85th Avenue in New Carrollton, Maryland. A passerby called 911 about 10:45 p.m.; officers located him near a sediment pond with an apparent gunshot wound and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The neighborhood was already on edge that night when, within roughly an hour, an ambulance crew encountered another shooting victim just blocks away in West Lanham Hills and detectives worked to determine whether the incidents were connected.

Days after Smith’s death a candlelight vigil at a basketball court in the 5200 block of 85th Avenue turned chaotic when witnesses said a man in a ski mask walked up and fired, wounding someone; police later arrested Antione Freeman of Landover Hills on attempted first-degree murder charges in that vigil shooting. Prince George’s County homicide detectives said they were still trying to identify the suspect or suspects in Smith’s killing and to establish a motive. If anyone knew Christopher, saw activity near 85th Avenue on February 6, 2012, or has information about who might be responsible, please come forward.