US Marshals arrest man charged with murder in Springfield shooting

A 21-year-old Springfield man charged with murder in the shooting death of a 20-year-old man in Springfield earlier this month is now in custody.

The U.S. Marshals’ Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST) arrested Kedric Holt around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday in Springfield and he was booked into the Clark County Jail, according to a statement.

Springfield police responded around 9 p.m. July 8 to a shooting in the 200 block of Rosewood Avenue. The gunshot victim, Gregory Allen Wells Jr., was shot multiple times in the chest. He was taken to Mercy Health - Springfield Regional Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries.

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Seven felony charges were filed Tuesday in Clark County Common Pleas Court against Holt, who is facing two counts of murder, one count of felonious assault, two counts of discharging a firearm, and single counts of tampering with evidence and discharge of a firearm at or into a habitation.

“The U.S. Marshals and Springfield Police Division work together daily on the fugitive task force. The safe capture of this fugitive is the result of the hard work done by the Springfield investigators and the sharing of information and resources with our fugitive task force. Our combined forces are dedicated to making our community safer,” said U.S. Marshal Michael D. Black.

Wells, known as “JR,” is a 2021 graduate of Springfield High School and the Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center. He worked at Navistar and started a car detailing business, J&W Detailing, with his grandfather, according to his obituary.

His death is the sixth homicide in Springfield this year, said Valerie Lough, community information coordinator for the city. That is pacing above the last two years: in 2022, there were eight homicides and there were nine in 2021, she said.

“This gun violence needs to stop,” his grandmother Victoria Arnold said earlier this month. “People are tired of burying their young.”

She became a victim’s advocate for the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office following the 2005 shooting death of her son, Titus, who worked with the juvenile court system. He was randomly shot by two men at the end of a four-day crime spree that included two other shootings.

Arnold also lost another grandchild in the recent past; Wells’ twin sister, Destiny, died in a rollover crash about three years ago.

“I became a victim’s advocate to honor my son’s memory not realizing later on I would be honoring the memory of my granddaughter, Destiny, and now my grandson, Gregory,” Arnold said. “I took this job to give back, not to bury mine, so I’m very angry about this whole situation.”