Five arrested in retaliation stabbing

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007

Five arrested in retaliation stabbing

by Meghan Tierney | Staff Writer

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Two men and three juveniles charged as adults have been arrested in connection to a gangrelated stabbing Tuesday night that police say was in retaliation for the stabbing death of a Germantown man the night before, police said Wednesday.

The suspects and victims in both incidents are involved with local gangs that claim affiliation with the Bloods and the Crips, though they are not believed to have official ties to the West Coast groups, said Lucille Baur, a Montgomery County Police spokeswoman. She did not know who claimed an affiliation with which group.

Both stabbings occurred behind Lakeforest mall near the county’s bus transit center.

All five suspects — including a ¹6yearold girl — were charged as adults with attempted firstdegree murder and conspiracy to commit attempted firstdegree murder in the stabbing of a 26yearold Gaithersburg man, said Officer Melanie Hadley, another Montgomery County Police spokeswoman.

The victim is hospitalized in critical condition and expected to survive, she said.

At 5:20 p.m. Tuesday, the victim was attacked from behind and stabbed multiple times by a group of suspects while walking with his brother along the 500 block of Odendhal Avenue in Gaithersburg, police said.

Police are withholding the victim’s identity for his safety, Hadley said.

The stabbing was in retaliation for the stabbing death of Robert Troy Jackson, 2¹, of the ¹8500 block of Owl Run Way in Germantown, who died early Tuesday from multiple stab wounds to his upper body, Hadley said.

Jackson was attacked by a man about 6:30 p.m. Monday at the transit center behind Lakeforest mall and died from his injuries around midnight Tuesday, police said.

It is unclear whether the motive behind Jackson’s stabbing was gangrelated, Baur said. Police do not have a suspect in that case, she said.

‘‘We are heavily patrolling the area and looking for any possible retaliatory activity and gang activity in the area,” she said.

Capt. Thomas C. Didone, commander of the county’s 5th District, also said that Germantown officers are on the lookout for possible gang activity.

Arrested early Wednesday for the Tuesday stabbing were Kevin O. Churchill, ¹8, of the 500 block of King Farm Boulevard in Rockville; Tremaine A. Dorn, ¹6, of the 400 block of Girard Street in Gaithersburg; Yadale Angel Martinez, 2¹, of the 500 block of Woodston Road in Rockville; Philip V. Cromwell, ¹5, of the 9800 block of Pierpoint Terrace in Gaithersburg; and Tiffany L. Palmer, ¹6, of the 20200 block of Red Buckeye Court in Germantown, Baur said.

They are all being held without bond.