Police chief responds to 3 homicide investigations; Natl. Links Trust signs new lease

The 6 begins with a violent and deadly 24 hours in Prince George's County. The police chief speaking exclusively with Fox 5 after three men killed are in separate incidents. Police say two men died in attacks early this morning. A third man has been found dead in the woods near a community trail. Fox 5's Shirin Rajay is live from Langley Park with the very latest. Shirin? Yeah, Angie Kenneth, Chief Nader, tells me that he is confident in the strategies that his department is using, the overtime programs, the additional officers to reduce crime. He believes that his department is going in the right direction, but he understands three homicide investigations in one day is concerning for residents. Take a listen. Violent crime happens. It affects all of us. The thing about these ones is, I will say, I want to let our community know they appear to be isolated incidents. We don't think these acts were random at all. So the community is not in danger. There's not people out just randomly committing these murders. But it's something that we want people to pay attention to. And we really just want people to give us any information that they may have regarding these cases. Yeah, the latest investigation is here in Langley Park. Just before 11 this morning, a landscaping worker discovered a man's body in a wooded area near Langley Hampshire Park, not far from an elementary school. The victim, believed to be in his 20s, had suffered trauma to his upper body. Police still don't know how long he had been there. And this comes after two other deadly attacks just an hour apart. Around 4.15 this morning, a man was found fatally stabbed inside a home on 51st Street in College Park. The victim is 26-year-old Jose Adin. Dean Hernandez Vasquez of College Park and then around 5 15 in the morning another man was found shot to death on the roadway in Bellhaven Drive in Landover and despite three homicide investigations in a single day Chief Nader says the bigger picture tells a different story about crime in the county. We're seeing a downward trend right now in homicides we're down 33 percent from this time last year and when you compare with this time This year compared to 2024, we're down 55%. So we know that what we're doing is making progress. We know that we're going in the right direction. But again, we don't tout numbers because what we know is that every number is a life. And there is certainly a level of heightened concern in this Langley Park neighborhood. Again, Prince George's County Police do not believe that these three incidents are connected. Nobody has been arrested. They're still working to figure out what exactly led up to these killings. If you have any information or camera footage, you're urged to contact Prince George's County Police. Guys. All right, let's give you some breaking news out of the district right now. A man seriously injured in a shooting in northwest D.C. You're taking a live look at that scene in the 800 block of Princeton Place in Petworth. That's right, the victim was not responsive when officers got there. This was just after 4 p.m. this afternoon. Now, we hear that that victim was taken to the hospital. We don't have an update on their condition. No arrests have been made at this hour, but we're staying on top of this breaking story and we'll bring you any further developments here on Fox 5. Meanwhile, the prosecution expected to rest its case on Monday in the Naresh-Botton murder trial in Prince William County. Jurors were dismissed early today. They reviewed banking and credit card records belonging. to Botton's wife, Momta Copley, who he is accused of killing. Prosecutors highlighted her final Uber charges in July of 2024, noting that the account soon accrued late fees after her disappearance. Witnesses also testified the couple did not share those accounts. Testimony resumes Monday morning at nine in the morning. All right, let's turn our attention to this weather here on this Thursday. The week is almost over, and it has been a gorgeous one. A live look at the capital from our Fox 5 Sky cam. Oh, and you can see it. Look at that. A little golden hour alert still lingering here right after the 6 o'clock hour. Yeah, we've got to soak it up for everything it's worth this week because it's all going to change after this weekend. Have either of you done that yet? Oh, you know, I've soaked it in. Okay, good. Yeah. Angie and I, we haven't spent too much time outdoors. We really should. Yeah, I know. I want to get out there. I mean, I've played with the dog outside. You know, I did some fall festivals this weekend. Running errands for the kids. Yeah, all those things. Yeah, so, and I will say that it does make it a little easier when the weather's cooperating. Definitely. Especially when there's so much on the line with activities, right? Last weekend was perfect. I was even outside for that. But this weekend with Halloween, of course, you know, you just want it to go well. And luckily, The weather pattern will continue straight through Halloween weekend, meaning it stays dry. It'll be a little bit cooler. But tomorrow, for Halloween Eve, any school activities, any pre-holiday parties, you've got a nice, sunny, warm day just like today. And after that early morning fog burned off, the sun came out in full force. We hit 71 at Reagan, 73 at Dulles, and 72 at BWI. Lovely look at downtown D.C. at golden hour. This week, we've really seen the trees come alive, the fall foliage in D.C. itself. And you can kind of see that on the bottom-hand side of your screen here. So peaking north and west this weekend. D.C. will probably be the following weekend. 67 degrees at the airport right now, south winds at 10 miles an hour, milder air overhead and we are mostly in the 60s right now, 67 in the city. We'll fall to only 54 overnight tonight, but cool but not overly cold and tomorrow off and running onto another beautiful day. Lots of sunshine, doesn't even look like we'll really have any fog tomorrow morning. Temperatures rise into the mid 70s. Cold front comes through tomorrow night, temperatures appropriately cooler for Halloween weekend back down into the 60s, but we are not done with that. With the 70s, they return on the seven-day forecast as we enter the month of November. I'll have more on that coming up. Kenneth? All right, Caitlin, thank you. New this hour, two dozen units of a Loudoun County apartment building have been evacuated because of unsafe conditions. This is a live look at the Percival East Apartments on 16th Street. Around 55 people are impacted. Fire and Rescue says it got a call for service earlier this week and crews found safety hazards, including damaged staircases. The county is now helping the people left without a place to stay. Stay with Fox News and Fox 5 for the latest. Some big news today at two historic public golf courses in D.C. The National Link Trust announcing that it has inked a 50-year lease to run and rehabilitate Rock Creek Park and Langston. But the days of managing East Potomac Golf Links, that is ending. Fox 5's Tom Fitzgerald is live at Langston Golf Course in Northeast, Fitz. Especially in this part of D.C., it sounds like this is welcome news. Yeah, look, this is a big deal, and this is much more than just a golf course in northeast D.C. Langston is the home to the oldest African-American men's and women's golf course in the country. It was once managed by Lee Elder, the first African-American golfer to play in the Masters, and it is tied directly in its history to the desegregation of the golf sport. That sets the stage for what happened today. A 50-year lease announced between the National Links Trust and the Interior Department of the National Park Service. That means the trust can now finally take off on stalled projects to renovate both Langston and Rock Creek public golf courses. Now, in addition to the course improvements, new clubhouses, Clubhouses. Langston will also be launching a student workforce development program, paid internships, and college scholarships. Play. Be grateful at a low cost as well as that as well, too. So this is, especially with Langston being a historically black course, something we need to preserve, actually. When I tell people, I say, about the history, this is the only place that black people and people of color could play back in the day. It's very important to people in this community. It's a big deal for a lot of folks. Now, look, over at Rock Creek Golf Course in Northwest, there's a lot more work that's going to be needed there. National Trust Links now says that within the next few months, it is set to resume work in two phases. First, there will be the construction and practice facilities. Second, on to the course renovations and the restorations. Now, Rock Creek Golfers told Fox 5 today. This course obviously is in need of some TLC. The grass has faded. There have been invasive plants that have overgrown in areas. They say this work is badly needed. I mean, there's a lot of areas where the drainage is not so great, mud collecting, and I mean, the place doesn't get a lot of people playing, like compared to East Potomac. Absolutely. I think it's great to have a staple of the community, stay here for a long time, and have a cheap place to play golf. It absolutely needs some work. I mean, it has some rough edges, but it's the character that keeps us coming back, so that's why I'm here. We should tell you we reached out to National Lakes Trust today and the Department of Interior. A spokesperson for the trust told us that they weren't going to be speaking about this, but in their announcement they revealed that they will be giving up their running of the East Potomac Golf Course on November 15th. As you know, that's been embroiled in a lawsuit between historic preservationists and the Trump administration. We're live in Northeast tonight. We'll send it back in to Angie and Kevin. Thanks Fitz. Staying in the district, At-large Council Member Robert White confirms that he will resign from his position on Monday. White, the Democratic nominee for D.C. delegate, must step down in order to be eligible for election and that's because of a 1970 law which says the delegate cannot hold another paid public office on election day. His resignation ends 10 years on the D.C. council and sets the stage for a special election to fill a seat next year. Early voting almost over in Maryland, less than two hours left with polls closing at eight tonight. The Board of Elections reports just under 500,000 people cast their vote early as of this morning. Early voting wraps up in Virginia this Saturday and in the district on Sunday. Maryland is celebrating major gains in student achievement. Data shows nearly 89% of public schools earn three stars or higher on the state's 2026 report card. The ratings measure academic performance, student growth, attendance, and graduation rate.