Student fires gun during scuffle

A man kicked in the door of a College Park Woods rental home early Saturday morning in a suspected domestic dispute, leading to fight in which a student resident fired a gun, police said.

Police arrested the 19-year-old boyfriend of a student at the residence after the brawl, which began as an argument after the alleged assailant broke into the house in the 9300 block of St. Andrews Place, Prince George's County Police District 1 Commander Robert Liberati said.

Alex Mari, a junior sociology and criminology and criminal justice major who lives in the house, said when the door was kicked in and a group of eight people were outside threatening him and other students with him, he went straight for his handgun.

Mari — who is in the Marine Corps and is on the D.C. Special Forces police force — fired a shot into the ground when the assailant advanced toward him, he said.

"I was just trying to do my part and protect everyone while making sure that no one got hurt," Mari said. "Yeah, I drew a weapon, but it was only to alleviate the situation without anyone getting hurt."

Several students suffered minor injuries in the "scuffling," but no one was struck by gunfire. Mari said he fired one more shot into the ground as the eight drove away, and another witness took down the vehicle's license plate number.

Police later pulled over the boyfriend and arrested him, Liberati said. Bond has not yet been set, and Liberati declined to identify the man in custody except to say neither he nor his alleged companions were students.

Mari said the dispute began when the assailant called his girlfriend and threatened her. Mari then took the phone and "called him out," he said.

The man and his companions tracked down the female student, who Mari said was visiting the St. Andrews Place house, and broke into the house, punched one man in the face and started shouting at the residents and their female guests.

Mari and his housemates, who have not been charged, forced them back out into the street, where the already-injured man was beaten up again as he tried to take down his assailants' license plate number, Mari said; he suffered scratches on his face.

This break-in continues a rash of violence that has plagued Prince George's County this year. There have been 14 homicides in the county so far, including a student who was shot and killed in his rental home Jan. 11 just across Metzerott Road from College Park Woods.

"We take firearm incidents very seriously, especially incidents that involve students," Liberati said. "This incident is not related to any other incidents, specifically the recent homicides."

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