The Metropolitan Police Department has announced that an arrest has been made in the murder of 28-year-old Ronnell DeAngelo Short. On Wednesday, December 3, 2008, at approximately 1:15 pm, 25-year-old Douglas Damon Whitley, of Southeast, DC was placed under arrest and charged with First Degree Felony Murder.  

On Friday, June 20, 2008, at approximately 9:43 pm, officers assigned to the Sixth District responded to the 5100 Block of Hanna Place, SE to investigate reports of the sound of gunfire. Upon arrival, they found two males suffering from gunshot wounds to the body lying in the field adjacent to the basketball courts near Benning Park. Personnel from the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department were summoned to the scene, but they could find no life signs. Later, the victims were officially pronounced dead on the scene by personnel of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia. Subsequently, the remains were transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

The victims in this case were identified as 21-year-old Michael Adams, of the 1300 block of Harvard Street, NW, and 28-year-old Ronnell DeAngelo Short, of the 1200 block of Edenville Drive in District Heights, Maryland.