On a Tuesday evening in late spring, the sounds of a basketball game at Carrollton Elementary School in New Carrollton, Maryland, were shattered by gunfire. It was May 31, 2011, and 23-year-old Alusine Kargbo was on the courts with a group of people when an individual approached and began shooting into the crowd. In the ensuing chaos, Kargbo was the only one struck by the bullets.
By the time New Carrollton and Prince George's County police officers arrived at the school on Quintana
Street around 8:50 p.m., Kargbo had already been rushed to a local hospital in a private vehicle. Despite the swift transport, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead a short time later. Investigators were initially unsure if Kargbo had been the intended target of the shooting.
The investigation into the homicide led police to identify 17-year-old Savon Lee Blanchard of Landover as the suspect. A warrant for his arrest was issued on June 3, 2011. Six days later, on the afternoon of June 9, Blanchard turned himself in to authorities. He was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and held at the Department of Corrections on a no-bond status.
