On the evening of September 2, 2023, what first looked like a motorcycle crash on Branch Avenue at St. Barnabas Road in Suitland was later determined to be a shooting. First responders found 48-year-old Brian Akinfe of Temple Hills unresponsive beside his motorcycle; while giving medical aid they discovered he had sustained gunshot wounds. Akinfe was transported to a hospital and died of his injuries on September 12, 2023.

Prince George’s County Police Homicide Unit shifted the inquiry from a traffic collision to a homicide investigation. Detectives say evidence pointed to an ongoing dispute between Akinfe and a 46-year-old man identified as Christopher Cross of Washington, D.C., reportedly over a child custody matter involving the mother of Akinfe’s child. Investigators contend Cross chased Akinfe in a BMW, shot him while Akinfe was on the motorcycle, and that Akinfe then lost control and crashed. Texts between the two were described as tumultuous; detectives also recovered a photograph Cross took of Akinfe minutes before the shooting and sent to his girlfriend with instructions to delete it.

Did anyone in the area see the BMW or the motorcycle that night or have information about the dispute?