A Cuyahoga County grand jury has indicted 25-year-old Fedrico Belton in connection with the fatal shooting of two Cleveland men whose deaths sent investigators racing across county lines within hours. Christopher Williams, 34, and Demetrius Pride, 28, both of Cleveland, were killed around 6 p.m. on Oct. 25 in the 4100 block of East 120th Street.
According to Cleveland 19 News, the grand jury indicted Belton on two counts of aggravated murder, three counts of murder, and four counts of felonious assault. Cleveland police said Belton fatally shot Williams and Pride, though the station reports that sources differ on exactly where in the city the shooting unfolded — Cleveland 19 identifies the location as the Union Miles neighborhood, while cleveland.com places the same address in the Corlett neighborhood.
A Fast-Moving Manhunt Crosses County Lines
Cleveland police detectives leaned on the Real Time Crime Center and automated license plate readers to track Belton to a home on Brittan Road in Akron, per the station's report. Several hours after the killings, officers from the Akron Police Department and the Cleveland Police Department, along with Summit County sheriff deputies and Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers, worked together to arrest Belton without incident.
Akron police released video of the arrest, the same report notes. The exact timing of when officers first responded to the scene is also described differently across accounts: cleveland.com reported that police were dispatched around 10:15 p.m. to the address for a report of shots fired, while the Akron Beacon Journal reported that Cleveland Police Fourth District officers responded around 6 p.m. the same day.
Bond Set, Plea Still Pending
Cleveland.com reported that a municipal court judge set Belton's bond at $1 million following his arrest, and that he had not yet entered a plea as of that report's publication. The indictment now moves the case into Cuyahoga County court, though no additional details on scheduling were included in available reporting.
Reports also differ on the spelling of the suspect's first name: Cleveland 19 News refers to him as Fedrico Belton, while the Akron Beacon Journal spells it Federico Belton. Both Williams and Pride lived in Cleveland, and a Cuyahoga County grand jury has indicted Belton.
