Detectives from the Alexandria Police Department last Saturday charged 19-year-old Jose Osorio Jr. of Metairie, La., with the murder of Sylvester Muskelly, 50, of no apparent address, according to police.

A witness found Muskellys body lying in a parking lot on S. Whiting Street on Thursday night at about 11 p.m. Authorities arrived to find him suffering from a gunshot wound to the upper body. Medical units transferred the victim to Inova Fairfax Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The responding officers, upon arriving in the area of the crime, spotted and questioned Osorio. Officers arrested him on concealed weapon and fugitive from justice charges, detaining him at the Alexandria Detention Center, police spokesman Jody Donaldson said.

Sheriff authorities from Jefferson Parish County near New Orleans had been looking for Osorio for an apparent armed robbery. Police arrested Osario with a semi-automatic handgun concealed from plain view on his person, according to the warrant of arrest. 

He was at the scene being questioned but in the meantime, before [police] could actually tie him to that homicide, they found out he had warrants on file and they were able to lock him up based on those warrants as a fugitive of justice, Donaldson said. So  at least they were able to hold him until they could further investigate the homicide.

Court documents pertaining to Osarios murder charge state that the shooter willfully, deliberately and with premeditation kill[ed] and murder[ed] Sylvester Muskelly in the first degree, warranting the arrest for murder following the initial charges.

Police put a name to Muskelly by an identification card on his person, though they were unaware of any fixed residence in the city or elsewhere as of Wednesday. He does have ties to the city, however, as an investigation and witnesses revealed. 

Hes been known to frequent the area and he has known contacts in this area, Donaldson said. Hes familiar to Alexandria so I dont know if he was staying with friends or what the status was.
Donaldson said police reached Muskellys family and notified him of his death.

Police would not comment on the suspects possible motives, as the investigation is ongoing. Nor will images of Osorio be released to the public until the investigation is further along, Donaldson said.

Osorio is scheduled to appear in court September 22.

The homicide is the citys fourth of the year and the second involving an out-of-state fugitive. Michael Horton, a fugitive wanted by U.S. Marshals in Pennsylvania, was killed in June.