The Harford County Sheriff's Office arrested three people Friday and charged two of them in connection with the murder of a man found shot to death in a car in Edgewood Thursday morning.
Both men charged in the murder had been previously identified by police as being active in a gang, as was the third man arrested with them who faces unrelated charges.
Sheriff's deputies had responded to a call of shots fired in the wee hours of Thursday morning, but couldn't find anything, in part, according to police, because of the tinted windows in the car where the victim was found. Witnesses said they saw a white Cadillac in the area when the shots were fired. When they responded hours later to a woman screaming in the same location after discovering the murdered man, deputies were already on the lookout for a white Cadillac.
Joseph Andrew Nelson, 20, of Edgewater Drive in Edgewood, and Coty Lamonte Wilson, 21, of Mountain Road in Fallston, were charged with the murder of Christopher Curtis Alves, 21. Alves was killed where he was found in the 1300 Block of Harford Square Drive, O Court, in Edgewood, police said. Both Nelson and Wilson have been charged with first degree murder, second degree murder and use of a handgun in a crime of violence.
Conrad Gaylord, 18, of Brookside Drive in Edgewood, was arrested with Wilson and Nelson. Gaylord was charged with handgun violations related to wearing, transporting or carrying a handgun on or about his person and in a vehicle. Wilson and Nelson are being held without bond at the Harford County Detention Center. Gaylord was released Saturday on $50,000 bond, according to court records.
Gang ties, police say
All three men have been identified as members of the gang World's Most Dangerous, or WMD, Capt. Christopher Swain of the sheriff's office wrote in an e-mail Monday, before adding that he could not say at this time if the murder had anything to do with the suspects' gang ties.
Police did not release any information about possible motives in the Alves murder.
Nelson and Wilson both appeared before Harford District Court Judge Susan Hazlett for a bail review hearing Monday afternoon. Hazlett ordered them held without bond.
Prior robbery charges dropped
In 2009, Nelson and Wilson were arrested in connection with an armed robbery in Edgewood and later indicted on multiple charges after one of the victims picked them out of a police lineup. Court records indicate the charges against the pair were not prosecuted in March 2010.
Harford State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly said Monday that prosecutors dropped the charges against Nelson and Wilson because the victim in the incident was withholding information and wasn't cooperating. She wouldn't identify a witness for the state and claimed she was being harassed, Cassilly said, nor would she allow the state to relocate or assist her.
"It was more like [she was] coming up with excuses why she didn't want to testify," he said.
There were also "weird things" about the original complaint, which arose suspicions, Cassilly added.
Contact with victim, police say
Leading to the murder arrests last week, detectives were dispatched Thursday at about 2:21 a.m. to the 1300 block of Harford Square Drive O Court for a shots fired call. Deputies checked the area and couldn't find a suspect or a victim, according to police. Detectives believe Alves was fatally shot during that time and that dark window tinting on his vehicle obscured him from the view of the deputies, the police report said. Detectives canvassed the area and found witnesses who said they saw a white Cadillac leave the area right after the shooting.
Deputies also learned that Nelson had been in contact with the murder victim numerous times in the hours just before his death, according to the sheriff's office.
At about 6:30 a.m. Friday, deputies responding to a suspicious vehicle complaint on Harborside Drive in Joppa found three people in a white Cadillac. After getting a search warrant, detectives found a handgun and other evidence that they say puts Nelson and Wilson in the immediate area of the 1300 Block of Harford Square Drive when Alves was shot.
The community where Alves' body was found has been the scene of past homicides, some of which police have attributed to gang activity.
Four homicides in 2011
The Alves shooting was the fourth homicide in Harford County in 2011.
Prior to last week, the last homicide in Edgewood occurred on Sept. 2, when a 37-year-old man was choked to death inside a home as he came to the aid of a woman during a domestic dispute. A 25-year-old from Edgewood was charged and is awaiting trial.
Police are also continuing to investigate the death of a 53-year-old man that occurred during an altercation inside his neighbor's home in Edgewood on Nov. 22. Police initially said the dead man was an intruder.
In addition to the September death in Edgewood, Harford County had two other previous homicides in 2011.
In April, in a Webster Village home near Havre de Grace, police said a 53-year-old man shot his 50-year-old wife to death and then killed himself with a shotgun.
In August, a 29-year-old man was stabbed to death by an intruder inside his apartment in Bel Air. Police have charged a 17-year-old with first- and second-degree murder in connection with that death.
Check back with http://www.exploreharford.com for updates on this developing story.