On a late spring evening in Fort Washington, Maryland, the sound of gunfire shattered the night, forever altering the lives of several families. On May 27, 2025, 16-year-old Thomas Smith Jr., a male from Washington, D.C., was fatally shot in what police have described as a drug deal that turned violent. The incident unfolded around 9:35 p.m. in the 5200 block of Haras Place, where officers, who were in the vicinity and heard the gunshots, discovered two teenagers suffering from gunshot wounds
outside an apartment building.
Thomas Smith Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene. Another 16-year-old, Michael Bassett of Temple Hills, was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. A third teenager who was with Smith and Bassett was also shot at but managed to escape unharmed. Investigators determined that the teens had arrived at the location in an SUV that had been carjacked a few days prior on St. Barnabas Road in nearby Oxon Hill.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, responding officers spotted a suspected SUV fleeing the area and initiated a pursuit. The driver refused to stop, leading police on a chase that crossed into Washington, D.C., where the suspect was ultimately apprehended. Prince George's County police quickly identified 27-year-old Duan Goddard of Fort Washington as the alleged shooter.
Within days of the double homicide, authorities announced that an arrest warrant had been secured for Goddard. He was taken into custody in Washington, D.C., and awaited extradition to Prince George's County to face charges. Goddard has been charged with first and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of both Thomas Smith Jr. and Michael Bassett. The preliminary investigation suggests that the fatal encounter stemmed from a drug transaction that went awry. Multiple firearms were recovered from the scene of the shooting as evidence.
