On October 27, 2023, a dispute at a basketball court on Old Fort Road in Fort Washington, Maryland, ended with 30-year-old Desmond Donnell Thomas dead. Thomas was found with gunshot and stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. A companion with him was also shot but survived with non-life-threatening injuries.

Investigators say the confrontation began when 54-year-old Kenneth Elwood Smith and his 18-year-old stepson, Lamont Scott, drove to the park looking for Smith’s daughter and accused Thomas and his friend of being with her. Thomas and his companion denied the claim, verbal exchanges became physical, and the violence escalated. Scott fired two shots from the vehicle, striking Thomas, and Smith stabbed Thomas in the back before both men fled. Both suspects were arrested the next day; charges were filed against each.

Anyone who was at the park that afternoon or who has information about what led to the confrontation is asked to come forward.