Man hunted in city killing arrested at a Georgia carwash

A man sought by city police in the fatal shooting more than a year ago of a handyman in a Northeast Baltimore house was arrested yesterday at a Georgia carwash.

Detective Vincent Stevenson of the Regional Warrant Apprehension Task Force in Baltimore said that Kevin Armstead, 24, of the 700 block of E. 43rd St. was featured Saturday on America's Most Wanted and that several tips on his location came in.

Stevenson said U.S. marshals and Decatur, Ga., police responded to a carwash where Armstead was working and arrested him without incident about 12:40 p.m.

Stevenson said Armstead, who was living in a homeless shelter in Decatur, was expected to be extradited to Maryland next week.

He is charged with fatally shooting Ricardo Paige, 54, in a house in the 500 block of E. 43rd St., where Paige was working as a handyman.

Stevenson said an investigation showed that Paige was killed because he was believed to have come upon drugs stashed in another apartment in the building.

"Mr. Paige was a hardworking man and had nothing to do with drugs," Stevenson said.