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A man wanted in connection with a shooting death Saturday morning in northeast Charlotte has been arrested in South Carolina, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.
Arnold Jerard Thomas was taken into custody Monday morning in Columbia by officers of the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, police say.
Thomas faces homicide charges in the death of Dantonio Gerrick Hamilton, according to police. A spokesman for CMPD said the extradition process is under way, but it is unclear when Thomas will be returned to Charlotte.
Police were called shortly before 4 a.m. Saturday to an apartment complex parking lot in the 2500 block of Lanecrest Drive. There they found a man dead of a gunshot wound. That victim later was identified as Hamilton, 21, of Charlotte.
Police launched a manhunt for the shooter, calling in their K-9 dog unit. But they said the man responsible for the shooting got away.
Hamilton himself had been charged with murder in the May 2010 shooting death of 20-year-old Devon Clement, who was gunned down in front of dozens of people at a Cook-Out restaurant on West Sugar Creek Road. Police said Clement was killed during an argument in the parking lot.
Hamilton and two others were arrested in the case. Prosecutors said the only gunshot that struck Clement was fired by another suspect, Cherelle Griffin. She pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder.
Last November, Hamilton pleaded guilty to discharging a gun into occupied property. He was sentenced to 25-39 months in prison, but that sentence was suspended pending his successful completion of three years on supervised probation.
Observer staff writers Meghan Cooke and Elisabeth Arriero contributed
