WASHINGTON — Two men have been arrested in the shooting death of a D.C.-area rapper last summer.
The Prince George’s County police announced Monday that Diante Brewer, 19, of Southwest D.C., and Deshawn Watkins, 18, of Southeast D.C., had been charged with first-degree murder and weapons charges in the death of 18-year-old Douglas Brooks at a party in Suitland, Maryland, in August.
Brooks rapped under the name Swipey.
Brooks was shot in the early hours of Aug. 21, 2016, in the 3600 block of Parkway Terrace Drive, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The police say Diante Brewer and Watkins intended to rob Brooks and others at the August party in the Parkway Terrace Apartments. Also, they think there are three more suspects.
Maj. Rob Brewer, of the Prince George’s County police, said that Watkins, Diante Brewer and three other people arrived at the complex in order to rob people at the party, which had been well publicized via social media, and shot Brooks before they got to the apartment.
Maj. Brewer said that their break in the case came when Watkins was arrested on unrelated charges in D.C. last October. He “had a gun on him which was connected to our crime,” Maj. Brewer said, though it took until the weekend to gather enough information to file charges and arrest Watkins again.
He said police don’t know yet whether Brooks and the five suspects knew each other, whether Brooks confronted the suspects before the shooting, or other details.
Brooks had performed with Wale, one of the D.C. area’s best-known rappers, as well as Fat Joe. His manager, Kevin Baldwin, told The Washington Post last summer that Brooks’ videos had been seen hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube and that he had worked with the producer Jazzy Pha.
Baldwin said at the time that Brooks was “very intelligent” and “successful on every level, but the hardest part was to get him away from his friends — the negativity.”
Maj. Brewer said a reward is available for information leading to arrests in this case. You can call the homicide unit at 301-772-4925; to remain anonymous, call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477), text “PGPD” plus your message to CRIMES (274637) or go to Crime Solvers to submit a tip online.
WTOP’s Kristi King contributed to this report.
