Arrest made in MGM National Harbor parking garage murder case
A Charles County arrest has reopened questions about safety at MGM National Harbor after a 2024 garage shooting that killed Daniel Antonio Thomas.
An arrest in Charles County has pushed the MGM National Harbor parking garage killing of Daniel Antonio Thomas back into Prince George’s County’s public-safety spotlight. Dayon Neal, 28, is charged with first- and second-degree murder and related offenses in the death of Thomas, 37, of Washington, D.C.
The case matters far beyond one homicide because it unfolded inside the resort’s self-park garage, a 5,000-space structure at one of the county’s most visible destinations on the Potomac waterfront in Oxon Hill. MGM National Harbor opened on December 8, 2016, as a $1.4 billion resort and the first luxury gaming resort in the Capital Region, and the shooting challenged the sense of security around a property that draws visitors, workers and casino traffic every day.
Prince George’s County police said officers responded on May 11, 2024, around 4:50 a.m. to the 100 block of MGM National Avenue after MGM Special Police and Security reported gunfire. Thomas was found with gunshot wounds in the garage and pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives identified Neal as a suspect several days later and obtained a warrant for his arrest.
Neal was taken into custody on Monday in Charles County and remains held there pending extradition to Prince George’s County. The Prince George’s County Police Department’s Fugitive Unit worked with the U.S. Marshals Service Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force to locate him, widening the investigation beyond the resort itself and into a regional manhunt that crossed county lines. The task force began operations in June 2004 and says it has apprehended more than 102,700 fugitives since then.
Police have said Neal and Thomas did not know each other, and the motive remains under active investigation. That has kept the killing in the category of a targeted homicide rather than a dispute that escalated in a public place. After the shooting, detectives asked the public for help and offered a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest or indictment, underscoring how long the case stayed open before this week’s arrest.
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