Man killed, woman injured after vigil for Wise High School crash victims (2024)

The two shooting victims were struck in or near the parking lot of Wise High School around 10 p.m., about 45 minutes after the event ended, county police said. Although the man who was killed attended the vigil, it was not clear whether the shooting was connected to it in any way.

Police identified the man who died as Shahid Omar Jr. of Upper Marlboro, Md.

Reached by phone Saturday evening, Omar’s father, Travis Clarke, called the killing “senseless.” He said he did not know who killed his son or why he was shot. His son had graduated from Wise in 2018 and the athletes were “three of his best friends,” he said.

“He had been mourning their death all week long,” said Clarke, and went to the vigil because he “wanted to show his respect.”

Omar was working at a group home for youths and was the father of a 2-year-old daughter, according to Clarke. A baby shower was to be held today for a son who was to be born in September.

Prince George’s County police Capt. Sonny Batth, the acting commander of the major crimes division, told reporters that the vigil held inside the school had been peaceful. He said police had stationed officers outside in the parking area as people departed.

Batth said the officers “made sure the majority of the people had already left the parking lot” before they also left. He said that as the officers were driving away, they heard gunshots and raced back to the school.

Batth said they found bystanders assisting the injured woman. Officers then performed lifesaving measures on Omar, who later died at a hospital. Police described the woman’s injuries as not life-threatening. A gun was recovered afterward.

“At this point, we are still in the preliminary stages of the investigation,” Batth said. “Right now, we are trying to piece everything together.”

Nikki Jackson, who attended the vigil with her 23-year-old son Kameron Blount, said she left the event feeling uneasy. People seemed stressed, she felt, noting some pushing in the crowd. A “bad energy,” the 49-year-old called it.

She and her son left through a back entrance and headed to the packed parking lot.

Jackson said they heard a loud cracking noise. Two groups had been setting off fireworks near the school. She thought it was gunfire, but her son reassured her: “No mom, that was fireworks, that wasn’t a shooting. Nobody would do that here.”

They drove out of the parking lot, Blount behind the wheel, slowly maneuvering through traffic and a line of cars parked along Brooke Lane, a long drive leading to Ritchie Marlboro Road.

Shortly after they reached the main road, Jackson said, her phone blew up with texts about the shooting: “Where are you?” one read. “Have you left yet?” said another.

She said her son — a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park and a graduate student at Bowie State University — knew all three victims of the crash, and was particularly close to Hazel.

“What a beautiful event,” Jackson said. “We thought the evening was moving in the right direction, and now, less than a week later, someone else is going to have to bury a child.”

Authorities are offering a reward up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case. Clarke, Omar’s father, asked that anyone with information about his death come forward.

“It’s not fair,” Clarke said. “I’m sitting here today, and my son is gone.”