Police arrested two men Monday in connection with the Feb. 29 slaying of Donald James Smalls Jr., who was found fatally shot at The Towers at University Town Center, a complex that houses more than 900 area students, police announced yesterday.
Smalls was shot in the apartment of a Howard University student who police have said was his girlfriend. Maj. Kevin Davis, District 1 commander of the Prince George’s County Police said investigators believe Smalls was killed after a struggle and that the killing was likely drug-related. Davis declined to elaborate on the level of Smalls’ involvement in drugs.
The men charged were Arlen Christopher Garrett, 22, and Mashalleck Ellis, 18, both residents of northwest Washington. They were each charged with second-degree murder and are being held pending a bail hearing in Upper Marlboro.
According to a police statement, the suspects met with Smalls in an apartment at the Towers and a struggle broke out. The suspects pulled out a gun, shot Smalls once in the lower body and fled the scene on foot.
Davis added that the two men arrested were not residents of the Towers. Smalls was not a legal resident either, but “was just crashing there” with his girlfriend, Davis said.
Security cameras at the Towers gave detectives a solid starting point for their investigation, Davis said, enabling police to get images of the suspects. Davis also praised the Towers’ staff and Hyattsville Police for their cooperation in the investigation.
“The camera technology was absolutely instrumental in closing this homicide,” he said. “The cooperation from the management and the Hyattsville City Police Department helped us close this faster than most.”
Davis also stressed that students should learn from the murder to be more cautious of who is staying in their building.
“Do the best you can to limit access to where you live,” he said. “I’m not saying you need to make it Fort Knox, but at least know who’s staying at your apartment.”
While Davis acknowledged students’ criticisms of security at the building, he said Towers management is working with police to re-evaluate security practices there.
Smalls, who went by the nicknames “D.J.” and “White bull,” had moved from Philadelphia to be closer to his girlfriend, residents said during earlier interviews. Friends described him as an aspiring hip-hop artist who had set up a studio in his girlfriend’s apartment.
“He had such a passion for music,” Dwayne Keith Wagner, a friend of Smalls from Reston, Va., said. “We would always just hang out and work on songs.”
“He was such a sweetheart,” a university student and friend of Smalls said. “Whenever me and my roommates would see him on our floor, he would always invite us to come hang out.”
The friend declined to give their name to a reporter.
Reporter Boris Tsalyuk and editor Kevin Litten contributed to this report. worsleydbk@gmail.com
