Detectives believe victim was shot while trying to sell the suspect 20 oxycodone pills for $80.

A Renton man was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a teen at a Federal Way apartment complex during an alleged drug deal in early January, according to King County prosecutors.

Darius Jackson, 20, was charged on March 16 with second-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree after arranging to meet up and purchase oxycodone pills from the victim before allegedly shooting him during the transaction, charging documents say.

Jackson is in custody at King County jail in lieu of a $1 million bail.

On Jan. 6, Donovan McDonald, 19, was found in a vehicle with a fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen around 10 a.m. at the Silver Shadow Apartments (27606 Pacific Highway S.) when Federal Way police responded to reports of an illegal weapon discharge.

Although first responders attempted life-saving measures, McDonald died at the scene.

According to charging documents, McDonald’s car had driven over a curb and crashed into a fire hydrant outside of the complex’s “L” building. The driver’s side window, where he was sitting, was rolled down “as if McDonald had been speaking to someone outside the vehicle,” documents state.

A Federal Way detective also found two spent .22 caliber cartridge casings under McDonald’s car. Shortly after when the police believe the shooting occurred, apartment surveillance video shows a man sprinting out of the apartment complex coming from the same direction where McDonald’s car had first driven upon arrival.

“The male was clutching his arms against his body within his coat pockets as if carrying something, and looked behind him as he went out of camera view,” the documents state. He was wearing a gray, down-type jacket.

The sprinting man, who police later determined was Jackson, ran to a nearby car lot before running toward the Crestview West Apartments minutes later, according to witnesses in the documents.

McDonald’s iPhone and Facebook account were later forensically analyzed, pursuant to a search warrant. In his messenger app and Facebook posts under the name “RugRat Bukk,” detectives found indication McDonald was illegally selling narcotics, and had been messaging with Jackson the day before the murder (Jan. 5) to sell him 20 oxycodone pills for $80, documents state.

Around 9 a.m. the next day (Jan. 6), McDonald agreed to meet Jackson in Federal Way. Jackson asked McDonald if he was with anyone else, to which McDonald replied he was alone. The documents say Jackson messaged McDonald and asked him to meet at the apartment’s “L” building.

In the final messages between the two, Jackson stated he was going to come out to McDonald’s car.

After allegedly killing McDonald and fleeing the scene, court documents state Jackson called the cell phone of an acquaintance who lived nearby several times and texted her asking to be let into her apartment at Crestview West before calling his mother, who then picked him up from his location in Federal Way, according to the charging documents.

On March 15, Jackson was arrested outside his mother’s house in Renton after his girlfriend called 911 to report Jackson had assaulted her and threatened her with a handgun, the documents state.

Jackson was later charged with felony harassment domestic violence and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, according to the documents.

He previously has one adult felony conviction for attempting to elude police in 2018, two juvenile felony convictions for second-degree theft in 2016 and attempted thrift of a motor vehicle in 2015, and two juvenile misdemeanors for third-degree theft in 2016 and 2017, along with fourth-degree assault in 2016.

Following his arrest, Federal Way police searched the Renton residence and found a loaded .22 caliber semi-automatic handgun inside a shoe box in the hallway closet. Inside the shoe box, police also found a “plastic container with several rock-like pieces that appeared to be crack cocaine,” documents state.

Police also uncovered an identical gray down-type jacket as seen in the apartment video footage. In an interview with police, Jackson confirmed the “RugRat Bukk” Facebook page belonged to him, along with another Facebook page under the name “Mookey Step,” which showed a picture of him in the gray jacket.

Jackson told police he did not know McDonald, the documents state.





