The man accused of shooting and killing someone placing an order at the MGM National Harbor food court Wednesday is being held without bond.
Benjamin Williams, of Fort Washington, made his first court appearance Friday morning. He’s facing first- and second-degree murder charges, among others, in the shooting death of Darnell Hawkins Jr.
The shooting, according to court documents, happened near the Shake Shack inside the MGM National Harbor Hotel and Casino in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Wednesday afternoon.
Charging documents described the attack in detail, stating that video surveillance from MGM shows Williams arriving at the hotel in a Honda Accord with a temporary Maryland tag. He then walked through the casino to the food court, approached Hawkins Jr. and shot toward him, documents state.
Hawkins Jr. tried to flee but was hit and fell to the ground. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Williams returned to the parking garage, charging documents state, and left the area.
According to the documents, an undisclosed person told officials that Williams had reached out to them after the shooting.
“I did something so bad, you might see me on the news,” Williams allegedly said to this person, followed by, “I killed someone.”
Investigators are still trying to determine a motive.
Prince George’s County Police Chief George Nader said Williams was arrested in College Park at 2 a.m. Thursday. He’s also being charged with firearm use in the commission of a violent crime, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, handgun on a person and loaded handgun in a vehicle.
At a news conference Thursday, Nader said Hawkins Jr. was a father, brother and son.
“The murder of Mr. Hawkins is not a statistic,” he said.
Officials emphasized MGM National Harbor is safe for the public.
“This was, we believe, a targeted attack,” Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy said. “There is no general safety issues at MGM. MGM is a safe place to go.”
Nader, meanwhile, said while guests are checked for weapons at the casino section of MGM, “it’s like any other business or place where people have access to. It’s a shopping mall, you don’t get checked for weapons when you go into a shopping mall. All of these places, you don’t get checked for weapons.”
WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.
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