The District man accused of killing a retired U.S. Capitol Police officer who was trying to sell a Rolex watch was arrested last night after a bizarre incident in which he jumped onto the tracks at the Brookland Metro station, then held off police from underneath a train by claiming he had a gun.
Donzell Stephen James, 26, who is charged in Prince George's County with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting Sunday night of 71-year-old Lloyd Ernest Bond, jumped onto the inbound tracks at the station about 4:50 p.m., police said.
As two passengers ran to alert the station manager, a six-car train pulled into the station, heading for James. The train operator applied the brakes but couldn't stop the train in time, and it came to rest with James underneath the gap where the second and third cars meet, Metro spokeswoman Cheryl Johnson said.
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James apparently squeezed himself into the slight depression on the track bed between the running rails so that the train cleared his body as it rolled over him. He was not seriously injured but had some cuts and bruises, Deputy Transit Police Chief Polly Hanson said.
James told rescue workers that he had a gun, Hanson said. Metro Transit Police officers in SWAT gear responded and joined a firefighter in what became two hours of negotiations to coax the man out from under the train.
Conferring during the standoff, Prince George's and Metro police determined that the man under the train was James. Lt. Col. Gerald Wilson, of the Prince George's police, said James revealed his identity when he asked to speak to certain family members, whom police knew.
Hanson said at least one family member helped negotiators talk to James.
When James was pulled from under the train at 6:40 p.m., he had no weapon, Hanson said.
The inbound tracks at Brookland are flanked by MARC tracks and the Metro station platform. The outbound Metro tracks are on the other side of the platform. Throughout the ordeal, Metro continued to operate Red Line trains on the outbound tracks, and MARC ran its service, allowing commuters to glimpse the drama as they rolled by.
Hanson said James was placed under arrest and taken to a hospital for evaluation. Wilson said James would face extradition proceedings from the District to Prince George's.
Police had been hunting for James since Sunday, when he allegedly answered a newspaper ad that Bond had placed to sell a Rolex watch. After inspecting the watch in Bond's home on Molly Berry Road in Croom, James told Bond that he had to go to an automated teller machine to get some money, police said. When he returned, Bond let him in and then sat down in a chair. James suddenly produced a gun and began shooting, police said.
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Bond, who retired from the Capitol Police in 1983, was pronounced dead at the scene. Bond's wife, Caroline, 62, was shot in the chest and arms but managed to call police. She is in serious condition at an undisclosed hospital, police said.
James also was being sought by several jurisdictions, according to court records. He is wanted in Fairfax County on a probation violation charge; in Charles County for allegedly failing to appear for sentencing; and in Prince George's for allegedly driving an uninsured car.
On Monday, police arrested Stalisha Gilmore, 21, whom they identified as James's girlfriend, and charged her with being an accessory to murder after she allegedly met James after the killing and allowed him to flee in her car, knowing he was involved in a crime. Gilmore was released on bond yesterday, police said.
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Wilson said that James, talking to Prince George's investigators on a cell phone on Christmas Eve, had twice promised to turn himself in, then reneged. In a telephone conversation with police on Wednesday, James refused to surrender.
Police had broadened their appeal for help in finding James, asking the television program "America's Most Wanted" to publicize the Rolex watch slaying.
Authorities said they are treating the shootings as a robbery attempt, particularly since the suspect has a history of using classified ads to swindle Rolex watches and other items from their owners.
Police recovered the damaged 18-karat-gold watch, which Bond had said in an advertisem*nt last Friday in The Washington Post was appraised at more than $16,000.
The shootings rattled several of Bond's neighbors, who said he was extremely cautious about letting people into his home.
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Police said Bond was so cautious that he called a neighbor before meeting with James to say that he was nervous about opening his home to a stranger.
Some of Bond's neighbors questioned why he would try to sell his watch outright instead of taking it to a jeweler or dealer who specializes in selling expensive timepieces such as Rolexes.
But Kim Gee, a classified advertising supervisor for The Post, said it is fairly common for individuals to use the newspaper to sell expensive items, in part to avoid paying a commission to a middleman.
Gee said that other than the requirement that an ad specify what is for sale, the newspaper has no guidelines on what can be sold or what other information can be included in an advertisem*nt.
Prince George's police said it is rare for injury or death to result from a classified ad transaction.
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Cpl. Diane Richardson, a police spokeswoman, said she could recall only one other case in the past 15 years in which someone was injured conducting an ad transaction. In that case five years ago, a man would answer ads placed by individuals trying to sell luxury cars.
When the sellers of the cars let the man test drive the vehicles, the man would pull out a gun, threaten to shoot the car owners, then kick them out and flee with the cars.
"This is not a common occurrence," said Richardson, adding that people who feel uneasy about meeting prospective buyers should arrange to meet them in a public place. "But I would tell people not to worry about placing classified ads."
Staff writer Tracey A. Reeves and Metro researcher Margaret Smith contributed to this report.
Donzell James, charged with killing a retired U.S. Capitol Police officer, is removed from the Brookland Station.Police officers at the Brookland Metro station, where a suspect in a Prince George's slaying jumped onto the tracks and ended up under a train.
