Man found dead in Bowie grocery store

Prince George’s County police homicide detectives are probing the death of a 49-year-old man whose body was found in the back of a small Hispanic grocery store in Bowie on Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The man, of Bowie, had obvious signs of head trauma, but investigators have not ruled his death a homicide, authorities said. His name has not yet been released.

Police were initially called to the Villa Hermosa grocery store at the intersection of 9th Street and Maple Avenue just before 7:30 a.m. for a reported suicide, authorities said. A body was taken out several hours later and sent to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. Police also towed three vehicles away from the scene.

Neighbors, some of whom had been interviewed by homicide detectives, said the man found dead owned and worked at the store with his wife. One neighbor, 57-year-old Richard Ford, said he heard three pops that might have been gunfire, early Tuesday morning, then heard a car speeding away from the store.

Police said they are not sure how the man died.

-- Matt Zapotosky