Good Samaritan Shot and Left For Dead

Cops tell AMW that Kevin Armstead and his victim were two very different people, living two very different lives.

Cops say Armstead is a hardcore criminal and a longtime drug dealer with a base of operations in Baltimore, Md.  Ricardo Paige, meanwhile, was a hardworking handyman, who was trying to rid his tough neighborhood of drugs and violence.

Paige often did renovation work on run-down row houses in North Baltimore. 

The houses that Paige worked on were the type of places that drug dealers like Armstead loved to use as stash houses to hide drugs while their minions would sling the contraband on street corners.

Paige would always dispose of any drugs or paraphernalia he would find while he was working, and cops say that soon caught the attention of Armstead and his men, who believed Paige threw out a cache of their cocaine.  That's why on March 20, 2007, cops say Armstead and two of his thug friends kicked down the back door of a row house that Paige was working on and demanded to know what had happened to their stash.

Paige pleaded for his life and tried to run, but he couldn't get away; he was shot several times and was killed.

Family Helps Reckless Gunman

At 25, Kevin Armstead already has a lengthy rap sheet for gun crimes, drug dealing, and sex offenses involving minors.  He also has ties to the Bloods street gang. 

Cops also say that Armstead's family members, some of whom work in the bail bonds business, helped Armstead stay on the loose by providing him with stolen Social Security numbers, aliases, and fake IDs.

AMW Capture #986

Armstead Arrested, Working At A Car Wash

After Armstead's story aired on America's Most Wanted, we got a lot of calls from people who say they had seen Kevin Armstead. Cops say that two tipsters had particularly good information; detectives learned that Armstead might be in Decatur, Ga., just outside of Atlanta.

The information was passed on to the U.S. Marshals South East Regional Task Force. They set up surveillance at a nearby car wash -- Gibson Auto Detailing on Covington Highway. Investigators say in just a few minutes, they recognized Armstead, looking exactly like he did in his mug shot, wearing a hair twist. He was washing a car when they stormed in and took him down.

U.S. Marshals on the scene tell AMW that Armstead appeared, "totally overwhelmed and surprised."