City of Petersburg

First block of Persimmon Court

11:50 PM

Gunshot

Argument

Petersburg man, 20, arrested in slaying

Wednesday,August 26, 2009
Petersburg police have arrested a man in the slaying of Donnell Howard, 22, who was gunned down shortly before midnight Monday in the Pin Oaks public-housing complex.

Mark D. Jones, 20, of the First block of Monument Avenue in Petersburg was arrested about 2 1/2 hours after the 11:50 p.m. killing in the First block of Persimmon Court, police spokeswoman Esther Hyatt said. Jones was charged with first-degree murder and felonious use of a firearm.

Officers responding to a call about a shooting found Howard lying on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jones and Howard were acquaintances, and the killing apparently stemmed from an argument, Hyatt said.

Howard lived in the First block of Redwood Court, which is also in the Pin Oaks complex. His death was Petersburg’s second homicide in two days and seventh of the year.

- Mark Bowes