CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK)—According to the Charleston Police Department, an arrest was made in the shooting murder of Charleston’s Kelvin “KJ” Taylor. Taylor, a Capital High School senior, was shot and killed on the corner of Glenwood and Central Avenue on the west end of Charleston Wednesday, April 7.

On Thursday, July 8 around noon, the United States Marshal Service, Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, and Akron Police Department placed 19-year-old Dekotis Thomas, of Charleston, under arrest.

Dekotis Thomas, 19, of South Charleston(Photo Courtesy: Charleston Police Department)

According to the USMS, after police identified Thomas through surveillance footage and issued an arrest warrant, the investigation into his whereabouts was turned over to the USMS in Charleston.

Officials say NOVFTF members located a home in the 600 block of Glendora Avenue in Akron where Thomas was hiding. Officers say as they made contact with Thomas in the home, he told them he had a gun. According to the USMS, while officers were attempting to negotiate surrender with Thomas, he allegedly set fire to the house and threw “an item similar to a Molotov cocktail at officers.”

The USMS says Thomas surrendered more than two hours after they arrived on scene and the house fire was then extinguished.

Thomas had been indicted on four charges, including murder, back in May of 2021. Thomas was named as a suspect in the investigation by the Charleston Police Department on April 28, exactly four weeks after the shooting.

No other information is being released at this time.