Death in Prince George’s Being Probed as Homicide
by Jamie Stockwell and David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post
A lieutenant with the D.C. police was found shot to death in the garage of his Prince George’s County home early yesterday, the apparent victim of a homicide, authorities said.
Garret A. Baxter, 34, was found by his wife shortly before 9 a.m. in the couple’s two-story house in a new subdivision off Route 301 and Queen Anne Road in Bowie, county authorities said. He had been shot several times, sources said, and a number of shell casings were found at the scene.
Acting Lt. Col. Alonzo Joy, who oversees the county police department’s criminal investigation division, released few details about the slaying, except to say that evidence suggested that it was a homicide, the 99th this year in Prince George’s. It was unknown yesterday whether there were signs of forced entry on the garage, front or back doors of the tan brick house in the 100 block of Stan Fey Drive.
Baxter had been on leave since early summer, though D.C. police would not give the reason. Jennifer Greene, commander of the 5th Police District station, where Baxter was assigned, said he commanded Patrol Service Area 510, a rough section of Northeast Washington south of Florida Avenue.
Before that, Baxter had commanded an area that includes the Brookland neighborhood near Catholic University, Greene said, a challenging assignment that forced him to balance complaints about loud college parties with armed robberies and killings.
Grief counselors were called to the police station yesterday, Greene said, to comfort officers. “The mood is very somber,” she said. “We’re just trying to pull together for each other.”
On Baxter’s street, where several D.C. officers had gathered to console each other, yellow police tape blocked the long, narrow drive leading to the home Baxter shared with his wife, one of four new houses on a short street set amid towering oak trees, plush green lawns and tidy flower beds. Detectives combed the half-acre yard and spent much of the afternoon knocking on neighbors’ doors. D.C. police, Maryland State Police and FBI agents were all at the scene.
Neighbor Ginny Laue said she had known the couple since last summer, when they moved into the house. She said Baxter and wife Nicole were the sort of neighbors who always stopped to chat. “I’m just real sad to hear about this,” Laue said. “I just saw [Baxter] last week at the grocery store, and he said hello.”
Baxter and his wife had several children living with them, all from previous marriages, she said, and they would often ride their bicycles through the neighborhood.
County police said they had been called to the house three times in recent months, once for a domestic dispute, once for a possible suicide attempt and once to “check the welfare” of someone there.
According to court documents filed in Prince George’s Circuit Court, Baxter was the defendant in two tax lien cases and one tort case that concluded last week when a judge ordered him to pay a Virginia man $2,900 in damages. Proceedings also concluded last week in a nearly two-year child-support battle with his former wife, according to documents, and he was ordered to pay $13,500 in back payments.
Some of the Baxters’ friends stood near the tape and said they were numb over the slaying. Rosetta Walker said Baxter and his wife had their first wedding anniversary in July. She said she was called early yesterday by Nicole Baxter and hurried to the house.
Brian Jordan, assistant D.C. police chief, speaking to reporters before Baxter had been identified by Prince George’s authorities, said the officer’s death was “one of those things where we come to work every day and we do our job, but when it’s one of our own, it becomes very personal.”