A man was arrested Monday night and charged with murder in connection to a January shooting in Rand.
Gerard Maxwell, 29, of Rand, is charged with murder in the shooting death of Christopher "Snacks" Carey, 27, Kanawha Sheriff's Cpl. Brian Humphreys said Tuesday morning. Maxwell is also charged with the attempted murder of Latisha Crawford, 28.
An indictment against Maxwell and two other men was unsealed this morning, according to filings in the Kanawha Circuit Clerk's office. William E. Lyttle, 23, of Costa, and Todd Hodge, 32, of Rand, who were arrested in March, were also indicted in connection to the January shootings.
Lyttle is charged with malicious wounding, wanton endangerment and attempted murder. Hodge is charged with accessory after the fact to murder.
Maxwell is also charged with wanton endangerment and malicious wounding.
Police rushed to Starling Drive in Rand about 5 a.m. on Jan. 23 after receiving multiple reports of gunshots.
Carey was found lying dead in the middle of the street and Crawford was found wounded in a car that crashed nearby.
During a hearing last month, Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom wouldn't accept Lyttle's guilty plea to wanton endangerment by way of information - meaning a grand jury wouldn't have first determined whether there was probable cause for an indictment.
If Bloom would have accepted that deal, prosecutors would have dropped the other charges against Lyttle.
The judge said, however, he needed more time before accepting a plea to wanton endangerment that involved a death.
During the August hearing, assistant Kanawha prosecutor said there were about six people outside a house at 5324 Starling Drive on the day of the shootings.
Lyttle was inside the residence while someone he knew was outside "having beef," Akers said.
"I got him, I dropped him, I shot him, or words to that effect," Akers told the judge the shooter yelled out after the incident, according to information prosecutors and police obtained from Lyttle.
Lyttle then went outside and began to fire down the road toward the vehicle, Akers said, adding Lyttle did so because he was afraid to look as if he wasn't participating. His shots didn't hit Carey or Crawford, Akers said last month.
James Daugherty, 20, of Charleston, was charged in January with fleeing the scene. He allegedly was found with a gun and crack cocaine after the shootings.
Maxwell previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge in Kanawha, according to court records.
His twin brother, Gerald Martin Maxwell, 28, died in December after being shot in the 5300 block of Starling Drive in Rand.
Leonard Dewayne Thomas, 44, of Rand, is awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.