Donnell Williams Jr., a 15-year-old Black male from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was killed on December 5, 2018, inside a home on the 1900 block of Bellevue Road in the city’s Allison Hill neighborhood. Police were called to the residence around 4:20 p.m. for a report of a shooting and found Donnell dead inside the home from an apparent gunshot wound.
The coroner later reported that he had been struck by a single gunshot to the back.
Donnell’s death shook the people around him because he was still just a teenager, remembered by loved ones as funny, intelligent, and full of personality. Online memorial reporting described him as one of eight siblings, a “one-of-a-kind comedian” who kept people laughing, and someone who enjoyed football, basketball, and video games. His girlfriend said he had not done anything to anybody, capturing the confusion and hurt that followed the sudden loss.
In the first hours after the shooting, Harrisburg police said no arrests had been made and asked the public for information. Dauphin County Crime Stoppers offered a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an arrest. The Harrisburg School District initially indicated Donnell was a student, and local reports said high school campuses, including John Harris, SciTech, and Cougar Academy, were closed the following day as grief counselors were made available. Some reporting later noted the district had backed away from its first statement about his enrollment, while other local reports continued to describe him as a Harrisburg High School student.
The investigation later focused on Adrien Dishawn Hailey, who was 19 at the time. On February 13, 2019, Harrisburg police announced that Hailey had been arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force in connection with Donnell’s death. Court and police reporting said Hailey was charged with criminal homicide, robbery, theft by unlawful taking, tampering with evidence, and filing a false report.
According to police documents described in local reporting, Hailey gave investigators a story that two masked people had come into the home, demanded marijuana, and shot Donnell. Investigators said the evidence and witness statements did not support that account. Two other people were reportedly inside the residence when the gunshot was heard. They ran toward Donnell’s bedroom and found him bleeding on the floor, while Hailey was seen leaving through a rear door. Reports said witnesses did not hear or see anyone else enter the home, and investigators found no evidence of forced entry or of masked gunmen being inside the residence.
Police also relied on videos found on Donnell’s cellphone. One video, reportedly recorded the day before the shooting, showed Hailey sitting on Donnell’s bed holding two handguns, one in each hand. Another video, recorded about an hour before the shooting, showed Donnell in his bedroom with what appeared to be marijuana, heroin, cash, and a black handgun. Investigators said those items were not found at the scene after Donnell was killed, and police believed Hailey had taken them.
Hailey appeared in court after his arrest, and local reporting said a preliminary hearing was scheduled in late February 2019. Court coverage later reported that the case was held for trial, with Hailey continuing to face charges including criminal homicide in Donnell’s death. The available online reports reviewed identify Hailey as the arrested suspect and describe the accusations and charges against him, but they do not provide a clearly documented final trial verdict or sentencing outcome for the homicide case.
