Cops arrest 2 in Hempstead fatal shooting

Police said they've arrested two suspects in last month's shooting death of a man in Hempstead who had been paroled from prison earlier this year.

The suspects, James Rutledge, 20, and Ramona Butler, 23, are to be arraigned Wednesday on second-degree murder charges in the Nov. 4 slaying of Melvin Wells, 39, Nassau County police said Tuesday night.

Police Tuesday night did not immediately say how they tied Rutledge and Butler to the crime, who they believed fired the shots or what the motive in the shooting may have been.

Wells was gunned down at about 8:35 p.m. in front of a home on Linden Avenue where he'd been staying.

Two other men have been fatally shot near that stretch of Linden Avenue since 2008, police have said.

Witnesses said that Wells, who would have turned 40 on Thanksgiving Day, was cradled in his son's arms as he lay dying.

Rutledge, of 21B Old Mill Ct. in Rockville Centre, and Butler, of 108 Grove St., Hempstead, are scheduled to appear at First District Court in Hempstead Wednesday, police said.