LANDOVER, MD — A 35-year-old father of two is fighting for a miracle in a hospital bed today, paralyzed from the neck down after a senseless shooting that police say is linked to a high-profile carjacking of a county official.
The violence, which has rocked the Landover community, ended with the arrest of 18-year-old Kairee Hicks. Prosecutors allege Hicks is responsible for a string of violent crimes using a single, illegal firearm with an “obliterated” serial number.
A Father’s Life Changed in a Flash
On the night of April 10, just before 9 p.m., an altercation broke out at a 24-hour convenience store in the Landover area. During the dispute, the victim—a 35-year-old man described by his mother as a “hard worker and active father”—was shot in the neck.
The injury resulted in a severe spinal cord injury. Miraculously, the victim had survived a previous neck shooting in 2010 and made a full recovery, but this time the stakes are much higher.
“He has two beautiful girls, very active in the community, very fun-loving… this had to happen to him,” his mother told News4. “Right now, we’re trying to work hard to get him into rehab so that we can see if he could have the full capabilities again.”
The Connection: Carjacking of a Court Clerk
For six days, the shooting remained unsolved. However, a second violent incident near Woodmore Towne Center provided the break investigators needed.
Mahasin El Amin, the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, was targeted in a broad-daylight armed carjacking. A masked gunman approached her vehicle, brandished a weapon, and demanded she get out.
“I was like, ‘He’s going to shoot me because I took my purse, and I’m going to die,’” El Amin recalled.
While El Amin escaped physically unharmed, the discovery that the gun used to steal her car was the same weapon that paralyzed the young father has left her shaken. “It’s unimaginable,” she said.
Suspect in Custody
Police arrested 18-year-old Kairee Hicks shortly after the carjacking. At the time of his arrest, he was allegedly carrying a loaded .40 caliber handgun. Ballistics and investigation linked the weapon to both the April 10 shooting and the April 16 carjacking.
Hicks is currently facing a laundry list of charges, including:
- Attempted Murder
- Armed Carjacking
- Use of a Firearm in a Crime of Violence
- Possession of a Firearm with an Obliterated Serial Number
A Community in Mourning and Anger
The shooting victim’s mother is now calling for an end to the cycle of violence that has left her son immobile and her grandchildren without their active father.
“This violence out here in the streets with these guns, it has to stop,” she said. “We all need to come together and stop thinking that shooting is the name of the game.”
What do you think, Prince George’s County? Are you feeling safe in your local shopping centers and convenience stores? What more can be done to keep illegal firearms out of the hands of teenagers?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
