Former student arrested in fatal shooting of Dunbar assistant principal

A former student of the 36-year-old Dunbar High School assistant principal found fatally shot in his Pikesville home last month has been arrested and charged with murder, according to Baltimore County police and court records.

Charging documents show Zayeed Quinton Abdul-Muhaimin, 23, has been charged with robbing and shooting Shelton Justin Stanley, whose body was found Dec. 28 in his home. Police confirmed that Abdul-Muhaimin, a Poly graduate who attended the University of Baltimore, was tracked down and arrested in San Diego, California.

Family members told detectives that Abdul-Muhaimin was one of Stanley’s former students and may have been staying with him, according to charging documents. Medical paperwork for Abdul-Muhaimin was found inside the home, police said; he also listed Stanley’s address after being arrested earlier last year on unrelated theft charges in Carroll County, records show.

Police were called to the home, in the 4800 block of Hawksbury Road, after family members did not hear from Stanley and went inside, where they found something rolled up in a blanket at the bottom of the basement stairs. An officer found Stanley’s body inside the blanket.

Investigators determined that a Glock 17 handgun and a shotgun had been taken from the home, as well as Stanley’s iPhone, bank card and 2016 Dodge Durango.

Police said there was an “overwhelming” odor of bleach inside, and that it was apparent that bleach had been poured “over almost all of the hard surfaces in the residence, to include the carpet, doorknobs, light switches, electronics, etc.,” police wrote in court documents.

An autopsy determined that Stanley had been shot multiple times with a shotgun.

Police looked up Abdul-Muhaimin in databases based on the paperwork found inside the home and learned that he was using Stanley’s address as his residence and mailing address to receive benefits from the state. Detectives learned that Stanley’s bank card was used Dec. 27 at an ATM, and surveillance video showed a man who appeared to be Abdul-Muhaimin making the transaction, with Stanley’s vehicle in the background, police said. A bank transfer of $2,000 was made from Stanley’s bank account to a woman in Washington, D.C., with whom Abdul-Muhaimin had a history of domestic altercations.

Phone records also showed that Abdul-Muhaimin’s cellphone was in the area of Stanley’s home “on multiple occasions prior to the discovery of the victim and at the time the victim was traveling to his residence,” police said. At one point, Stanley’s cellphone and Abdul-Muhaimin’s cellphone were in the same area at the same time, police said.

Police said Abdul-Muhaimin’s fingerprints were also found on a container of cleaning product found inside the home.

It was not clear if Abdul-Muhaimin had an attorney; an attorney who represented him in a prior unrelated case did not return a phone call seeking comment.

An arrest warrant was issued on Dec. 30, and Abdul-Muhaimin was arrested Monday, though it was not disclosed until Friday afternoon. He will be extradited back to Maryland, police said.

Stanley had served as a math liaison to several city schools before becoming an assistant principal at Dunbar last year. Dunbar officials remembered him as a top educator and teammate.

Stanley, who friends said went by his middle name, Justin, was also a deacon, treasurer and youth ministry leader at the Edmondson Heights Church in Southwest Baltimore. “When you know many young people that went to Dunbar, any other schools he worked at, you can see online the outpouring of students saying how much he meant to them,” Mayor Brandon Scott said Friday. “The whole city hurts when something like that happens.”

A LinkedIn profile for Abdul-Muhaimin shows that he graduated from Poly, and attended the University of Baltimore, where he worked as a student ambassador. A spokesman for the University of Baltimore confirmed that Abdul-Muhaimin attended the school but did not graduate.

Court records show he was charged twice last year with theft-related charges: In April, he was charged with theft between $1,500 and $25,000 in Carroll County, and given probation before judgment in August. His address in that case was listed as Stanley’s home. He also was charged with theft and destruction of property in Frederick County in June, charges that are pending.