Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993 TAG: 9303130299
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short
SUSPECT WAS DEPRESSED
A former college football player accused of shooting two women was sent to a state mental hospital in 1985 and was diagnosed with a form of depression, court records show.Later that year, a York County magistrate wrote of Darryl Quentin Smith, "I definitely feel he is injurious to himself and to others!"
Friends and relatives of Smith, 32, have said that nearly 10 years ago, about the time his football tryouts with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos failed, he became withdrawn and quiet.
"He was just sort of in his own world," said Alex Greene, Smith's cousin and neighbor. "He was never mean. He was just always by himself. I feel something had happened that made him go into his shell."
Smith faces a murder charge in the death of Donna L. Harrison, 45, a seventh-grade science teacher at Dozier Middle School. He is charged with maiming Stefanie Hawkins, 51, at a convenience store about a half-mile from the school parking lot where Harrison was killed.
Police said Smith apparently did not know either victim. Hawkins is in stable condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
According to court records, Smith spent three days at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg in February 1985, where doctors said he had a form of manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder.