In the quiet community of Montgomery Village, Maryland, the life of 37-year-old Antoine Lavale Parker, a male resident of Gaithersburg, was abruptly ended in a burst of violence. On the morning of Sunday, September 22, 2024, the Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center received a chilling call reporting a shooting in the 18500 block of Boysenberry Drive.
Officers from the 6th District were dispatched to the scene, and it was there, inside his own apartment, that they discovered Parker suffering from gunshot wounds. Earlier that same day, around 5 a.m., police had been called to the same apartment complex for reports of gunfire, but at that time, they were unable to locate any evidence of a crime.
The investigation into Parker's death was swiftly undertaken by the Montgomery County Department of Police's Major Crimes Division. The day after he was found, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy and officially ruled his death a homicide caused by gunshot wounds. For months, the case remained a priority for detectives as they worked to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. As the investigation progressed, authorities appealed to the public for any information that could lead to an arrest, offering a reward for tips that could help them solve the case.
After months of dedicated investigative work, a breakthrough was made. Detectives identified two Gaithersburg men, Erick Darryl West, 65, and Daryl James Howard, 45, as the primary suspects in Parker's murder. The investigation into Howard had already led to firearm-related charges against him following a search of his residence on December 20, 2024. In late February of 2025, the investigation culminated in murder charges for both men. On February 24, an arrest warrant was obtained for West, charging him with first-degree murder. He was taken into custody two days later without incident during a search of his home and is being held at the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit without bond. An arrest warrant for Howard, also for first-degree murder, was obtained on February 26. He was already being held at the Carroll County Detention Center on unrelated charges. The arrests brought a significant development to a case that had left a community searching for answers.
