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       Donnell Thomas rushed to the park in Fort Washington after getting a frantic phone call from his son’s mother. He saw his son’s car in the parking lot, the lone one, blocked off by yellow crime scene tape surrounding the park.

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       The Prince George’s County police detective knew something was bad, he said. As Thomas made his way closer to the scene, a homicide detective he knew grabbed him before he could get any further.

       “Yes, it is my son, and he was gone,” the 56-year-old father recalled the homicide detective telling him. Desmond Thomas, 30, who had gone to the park on Old Fort Road to play basketball, had been fatally shot Friday afternoon during a dispute, authorities said.

       “They were nice enough to let me see him,” Donnell Thomas said Tuesday. “I wasn’t going to leave the scene without seeing my son.”

       A stepfather and his son were arrested and charged in Desmond Thomas’s killing the next day, according to charging documents, leaving the police detective and his family still reeling from the loss. A prosecutor in a bail review hearing for the men said there was “no cause for what occurred.” Police said Desmond Thomas did not previously know the men accused in his killing.

       Two suspects arrested in Fort Washington killing

       Kenneth Elwood Smith, 54, is charged with second-degree murder and related counts, and his stepson Lamont Scott, 18, both of Fort Washington, is charged with first-degree murder and related counts, according to online court records. A judge ordered them both held without bond on Monday.

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       According to charging documents, Smith had driven to the park to look for his daughter with Scott in the car. The teen was armed with a handgun, which Smith told police he did not know about before the shooting, the charging documents say.

       Thomas and a surviving victim were at the park to play basketball, according to the charging documents. Two female juveniles were there, and the documents allege Smith is the father of one of them.

       An argument ensued among Smith, Scott, Thomas, and the surviving victim, according to the charging documents. The documents do not say what the argument was about, or provide any further information on the significance of the female juveniles.

       Scott told police he shot Desmond Thomas with the handgun he had brought to the scene “after a verbal altercation became physical,” according to the charging documents. There was a struggle over the handgun, police said in the charging documents. His public defender said in court that he has no prior convictions, however the prosecutor said his age prohibited him from having a handgun.

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       The surviving victim was also shot and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

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       Smith’s public defender denied in court that there were any allegations that Smith stabbed anyone, but the prosecutor alleged he stabbed Desmond Thomas during the altercation. The duo then fled the scene in Smith’s car, police said in the charging documents.

       A spokeswoman from the public defender’s office said in a statement Tuesday that she does not anticipate attorneys being able to provide any comment at this time in the proceedings.

       Donnell Thomas has served with the department for about 16 years and is currently an auto theft detective, he said.

       He said his son regularly frequented the park to play basketball, a short distance from where he lived with his family. Desmond Thomas was an “outstanding young man,” who never got into trouble, his father said. That day at the park “trouble found him,” Donnell Thomas said.

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       “They went there for blood, it seemed like,” Donnell Thomas said. “I’m sure that they did not know my son, had never met my son … I don’t know if words were exchanged or what but the two worlds collided and ended up taking the life of my son.”

       Desmond Thomas, a High Point High School graduate, worked at Amazon. His favorite sport to watch was football, the Las Vegas Raiders, and his favorite sport to play was basketball, which he often did with his 6-year-old son.

       Donnell Thomas described Desmond as dedicated to family, even protecting his mom, sister and her newborn baby by grabbing a pot on the stove with his bare hands that had caught fire years ago. The father and son would spend time working together on Desmond’s car, a Dodge Charger, which he loved.

       On Fridays, Desmond Thomas normally would have taken his 6-year-old to play at the park with him, but this particular day, the child had been picked up from his school by his mom, Donnell Thomas said.

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       Prince George’s County police have investigated 100 homicides this year, according to data from the police department. Donnell Thomas said he remains committed to his career in law enforcement, but notes that violent criminals are “getting younger and younger” and there seems to be “no end in sight” to crime.

       “I set out on this mission, and I’m going to complete it,” Donnell Thomas said. “I love Prince George’s County, I don’t intend on leaving. But it’s getting bad here.”

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