A person was arrested and charged Thursday for the shooting at MGM National Harbor hotel and casino that left one man dead, Prince George’s County police said.
Benjamin Williams of Fort Washington, Maryland, was located by police at a home in College Park at about 2 a.m. The arrest came less than 14 hours after 23-year-old Darnell Hawkins Jr. was killed in what police said was a targeted shooting in the building’s food court.
Williams, 22, is in custody and being charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, and gun offenses. The motive is still unknown, officials said.
“We can’t prevent every crime from occurring, but when we’re able to solve cases quickly and make arrests, I think it brings some comfort to not only the family but the community at large,” Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy said at a news conference Thursday.
Ample security footage “played a vital role” in the investigation, Prince George’s Police Department Chief George Nader said.
“There’s almost no areas in MGM that’s not covered by video, and that was instrumental in bringing this case to a swift closure,” he said.
Police said the two men knew each other but did notsay how. Nader said there was no prior exchange between them, but Williams “laid in wait” at MGM before allegedly firing at Hawkins at about 11:55 a.m. Wednesday, as Hawkins was ordering food.
Nader said there were other people in the food court, and that Williams ran after Hawkins and continued to shoot once he fell to the ground.
“The murder of Mr. Hawkins is not a statistic,” Braveboy said. “Mr. Hawkins was a person. He was a father. He was a brother. He was a son. He meant a lot to his family. He meant a lot to his community.”
She, like other officials, stressed Thursday that the hotel and casino are safe for visitors. The building is secured by county police officers and internal security personnel, Nader said.
“MGM is a safe place to go,” Braveboy said.
The post Police make arrest in fatal shooting at MGM National Harbor appeared first on Washington Post.
