A man wanted for more than two years in connection with a 2009 Silver Spring homicide has been arrested in Pennsylvania.
Vincent Minto, 39, of Landover, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 63-year-old Clarence Rankine.
He was apprehended after an unrelated arrest in Reading, Pa., on Sept. 4, police said. Officers there learned that an arrest warrant on a murder charge was issued for him in Montgomery County on Sept. 2, 2009.
Minto was charged in Reading with violating a protection from abuse order, according to a Berks County Magisterial District Court clerk.
The Silver Spring slaying happened shortly before 5 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2009. Police said Rankine was hosting a gathering at his home on the 900 block of University Boulevard East when he got into an argument with a group of men. The verbal argument escalated to gunfire. At least 12 rounds were fired, police said, and Rankine died after having been shot multiple times.
Two other men were charged with first-degree murder in connection with the slaying, but charges have been dropped against both of them, court records show.
Winston Dillon, 39, of Hyattsville, was arrested Sept. 9, 2009, a few days after he limped out of the Washington Hospital Center, where he was treated for gunshot wounds to the leg. Lonzell Smith, 38, of New Carrollton, was arrested Sept. 11, 2009.
Charges against both men were dropped in November 2009. Officer Rebecca Innocenti, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman, said detectives have not yet spoken with prosecutors about whether any future charges would be filed against the two.
Minto remains in custody in the Berks County Prison, according to court records. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Monday.
