5th arrest in Piazza murders

PHILADELPHIA - July 28, 2009 RELATED VIDEO: Raw video of James Wilson surrendering to police
RELATED VIDEO: Surveillance footage from the Piazza killings
RELATED SLIDESHOW: Moments before the Piazza killings

Officers arrested Langdon Scott, 26, and charged him with robbery, conspiracy and other counts.

Investigators say Scott was seen on surveillance video with the two suspected triggermen.

/*Rian Thal*/ and /*Timothy Gilmore*/ were both shot to death outside Thal's seventh floor apartment back on June 27th at the "Piazza at Schmidt's" apartment complex.

Most recently, /*James Wilson*/ was arrested on burglary charges. Police say that 12 hours before the killings, Wilson kicked in the door of another apartment he thought was Thal's.

Investigators believe that Wilson, who is also known as Keith Epps, was the mastermind of the plot that left Thal and Gilmore dead.

More arrests are expected.

Sources tell Action News that they may all be part of gang that specializes in robbing drug dealers. Investigators know who they are, and it's now just a matter of tracking them down.

Police say the case began with a bizzare case of double identity. Thal, who lived on the top floor of the trendy /*Piazza at Schmidts*/ - a $100 million complex that recently opened in Northern Liberties - threw parties at the city's trendiest nightclubs and hung out with professional athletes, celebrities and members of the local hip hop scene.

But police say what most people didn't know is that Thal and Gilmore, who was from Ohio, were heavily involved in the drug trade.

Investigators found over a $100,000 in cash and 4 kilos of cocaine in Thal's apartment.

Police say the killings of Thal and Gilmore, captured on surveillance tape, began with a comedy of errors.

After mistakenly hitting an apartment that turned out to be vacant, police say Wilson and his co-horts had returned to track Thal and Gilmore to the right apartment and rob them. But, things started going south.

"They were attempting to force them into the apartment," Clark continued, "When one of them starts to run and the shots start to ring."

Police say another man, 30-year-old /*Donnell Murchison*/, was the gunman who shot Thal in the head, killing her. Then, they say, Murchison turned around and finished off Gilmore who had already been wounded.

A few seconds later, surveillance video -- which has not been released by police -- shows another man stepping over the bodies and making off with a large duffel bag. That man has not yet been identified.

"We know that there's an individual that left with a large duffel bag," according to Clark, "but we don't know what was in that duffel bag."

Behind bars are 27-year-old /*Robert Keith*/ and 25-year-old /*Katoya Jones*/. Both have been charged in connection with the case.

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