Background: A police officer picks up a metal pipe believed to have been used as a murder weapon (WRC/YouTube). Inset: Nocholas Duncan (Prince George's County Police Department/WRC).
A man was at a Maryland train station heading to work when an apparent stranger ambushed him and beat him to death with a metal pipe, authorities say.
Nocholas Duncan, 30, has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, Prince George's County District Court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. He is being jailed without bond.
The victim has been identified by Washington, D.C., NBC affiliate WRC as 61-year-old Stanley Hutchinson III.
It was April 16 at about 5 a.m., and Hutchinson was on his way to work, according to charging documents obtained by the area outlet. He approached the Addison Road Metro station, and at one point, "appeared to" speak with Duncan.
As Hutchinson continued walking, Duncan allegedly grabbed a pipe from his bag and hit the older man in the back of the head, sending him to the ground. Investigators believe the defendant got the pipe from outside the station's entrance.
Duncan reportedly continued hitting Hutchinson in the head and face before picking up a clear bottle and pouring an "unknown liquid" over him and stomping on him. Duncan then fled the station.
"It's troubling," Prince George's County State's Attorney Tara Jackson said at a news conference. "Mr. Hutchinson was going to work, so it appears, at 5 a.m. in the morning."
Investigators do not believe the men knew each other, instead suspecting that this was a random attack.
Officers responded to the scene and discovered evidence, including what they said appeared to be the murder weapon. They arrested Duncan at a bus stop, where his "legs, shoes, and clothing were covered in a red stain," the charging documents state. He was booked into jail and appeared in court on Monday.
He is scheduled to return for a preliminary hearing on May 18.
Jackson said she learned that Hutchinson was "a hard worker. In fact, he was known as a gentle giant and would do anything, as his family described, for his family and friends. And he was brutally attacked in the Metro station."