Prince George’s County police arrested a Temple Hills man Wednesday morning for allegedly shooting another man to death at a bus stop outside the Southern Avenue Metro station Tuesday night.
Norman Marquarus Bonds, 32, was picked up by police in District Heights at about 8:50 a.m. and charged with first-degree murder.
Police say 43-year-old Harold Detter was standing at a bus bay just outside the Green Line station in Temple Hills at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when Bonds walked up and shot him in the upper body without saying a word, and then ran into the station.
Bonds later was identified by multiple witnesses and arrested roughly 12 hours after the crime, according to Maj. Michael Straughan, commander of criminal investigations for the Prince George’s County Police Department.
Investigators are trying to determine if Detter, an Oxon Hill resident, and Bonds had any previous contact or relationship before the shooting. Both men were known to use the Southern Avenue Metro station, Straughan said.
Bonds is the sole suspect in the investigation, he said.
Melba Harvey, an aunt living at an address listed for Bonds on the 3500 block of Dixon Street in Temple Hills, said she didn’t know Detter or whether her nephew knew him.
Though recent court records list the address as his home, Bonds has not lived there for many years as he’s been in and out of prison, Harvey said.
Court records show Bonds has faced dozens of criminal charges dating to 1998, including possession of a controlled dangerous substance, attempted burglary, second-degree assault and several charges of trespassing on private property.
Most recently, Bonds was arrested in Virginia in December as a fugitive from justice.
Bonds was transferred to the Prince George’s County Corrections Department about noon Wednesday. First-degree murder suspects are typically held without bond, police said.
Homicides on the Metro system are unusual, with typically about one per year. Last October, Demetrius Thompson, a 22-year-old father of two, wasshot in the face multiple timeson a Metrobus on Alabama Avenue in Southeast D.C.
There have been 27 homicides in Prince George’s this year, marking a steep drop from the 49 homicides the county had experienced at this time in 2011.
Investigators are working with Metro to obtain security footage of the interior and exterior of the station at the time of the crime, and police are asking more witnesses from the Metro station to step forward with their accounts of the murder.
Witnesses are asked to call the police homicide unit at 301-772-4925 or Crime Solvers at 866-411-TIPS (8477).
Examiner Staff Writer Kytja Weir contributed to this report.
