ROLESVILLE — Police have apprehended a man they had been searching for since spring in connection with the shooting death of a 36-year-old man whose body was in a wooded area in Rolesville.
Armando Montes Gomez, 27, has been charged by Rolesville police detectives with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon, according to an arrest warrant filed this afternoon at the Wake County Magistrate's Office.
Police have accused Gomez of using a handgun to fatally shoot Ismael Merales-Castro, 30, on April 7. Police also have accused Gomez of taking Merales-Catstro's 2004 Chevrolet Trail Blazer after the shooting, court records show.
Merales-Castro's body was found the day of the shooting in a wooded area in the Drayton subdivision off Forestville Road.
Rolesville investigators found the Trail Blazer about a week later in Robeson County after it was stopped at a police checkpoint in St. Paul's, authorities reported.
Two men and four boys were inside of the vehicle. The men, who were both charged with felony possession of stolen property, told police they had gotten the SUV from Gomez, who lived in Sanford, Rolesville authorities reported.
The two men were not charged with Merales-Castro's death.
Police transported Gomez to the Wake County jail. He is in custody without benefit of bail, court records show.
Federal immigration officials think Gomez may be in this country illegally and have placed a retainer on him, meaning he may face deportation after his homicide case and if convicted, his prison sentence has ended.
