40-Years-Old Man Killed Because Of Broom!

The two men, who did not know each other, got into an argument over a broom, which was lying near some trash outside a home on Leroy Gorham Drive in the Capitol Heights area of the county, sources said. The argument escalated into a fistfight, and at some point, the 40-year-old man was shot, police said.

The victim, Norman Francis Wood III, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, police said. They said the cabdriver, Michael Ricardo Cruz, 55, of Hollywood, Md., was arrested a short distance from the scene, and a gun was found in his vehicle. Cruz was charged with first-degree murder and related counts, according to police charging documents.

Law enforcement sources said the argument started when Cruz stopped sometime before 5:30 p.m. in the 4700 block of Leroy Gorham Drive and tried to take the broom.

Neighbors said Wood was a fixture in the Capitol Heights area, where he was known to cut grass and walk his dog. His father, Norman Wood Jr., said that his son was trying to get a lawn mowing business off the ground. He said his son also had several customers around the Deanwood area of Northeast Washington, where he grew up, his father said.

"He worked in the neighborhood cutting grass, and he kept to himself," the victim's father said. "It's really mind-boggling the way the whole thing turned out."

Wood said his son, who lived in the District with his mother, was a graduate of H.D. Woodson Senior High School.

Wood said that he was "in a fog" over his son's death and that police had told him only that they were continuing to investigate. He said he could not imagine why his son would fight anyone. "He didn't bother anybody," Wood said.

Police charging documents said that Cruz "admitted to being involved in the physical altercation," and witnesses told detectives that Cruz "had sole custody and control of the handgun" when the victim was shot



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