Third person arrested in 2010 killing

A Rockville Centre man was arrested Thursday and charged with murder in the 2010 shooting death of a Hempstead man, police said.

Bryant Daniels, 27, of Mehan Lane. is the third person charged with second degree murder in connection with the killing of Melvin Wells, who was 39.

James Rutledge, 21, also of Rockville Centre, and Ramona Butler, 24, of Hempstead, were arrested in November 2010, a day after the shooting.

Wells was shot and killed while fleeing an apparent robbery outside his home on Linden Avenue on Nov. 4, 2010.

Wells had been paroled earlier that year after serving more than a dozen years in prison following an assault, drug dealing and an attempted murder conviction.

At the time of the shooting, neighbors and witnesses told Newsday Wells died at the scene, cradled in the arms of his teenage son with whom he was trying to rekindle a relationship after the many years in prison.

Daniels was to be arraigned Friday in First District Court, Hempstead.

Information on the status of the cases involving Rutledge and Butler was not available Thursday night.