A man who escaped to an Atlantic City casino hotel after a deadly mass shooting in Fairfield Township two years ago is now charged with murder.
Arthur Armstead, 30, has been jailed on charges of obstruction and hindering apprehension since May 27, 2021, less than a week after the shooting that killed three people and wounded 11 others.
State Police were called to East Commerce Street at about 11:45 p.m. May 22, 2021, after a shooting at the party attended by hundreds of people.
Kevin Elliott, Brailyn Holmes and Asia Hester were killed.
Holmes' brother, Zedekiah Holmes, was charged with murder in the deaths of Elliott, 30, and Hester, 25.
No one was charged with the death of his 19-year-old sister until now.
Armstead is charged with two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Brailyn Holmes and Elliott.
He was a suspect from the beginning, after he fled the scene and went to the home of his girlfriend, Tasia Coleman, in Wilmington, Dela., according to the affidavit.
Detectives were able to obtain communication that found Armstead's mother, Priscilla Armstead, had gotten a room at Harrah's Atlantic City, where she went on May 25, 2021, the affidavit states. She left Room 433 the next day, and met up with her son and another woman.
When detectives questioned Priscilla Armstead at her Bridgeton home, she said she did not know where her son was, according to the charges.
She and Coleman still have pending charges, including hindering and obstruction.
Information that was recently developed implicated Armstead in the shooting, Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said Saturday.
