Updated: Patrick Zephir Arrested In Murder Of Neighbor Raphael Kurton, Who Was Fatally Shot At Newkirk & E. 17th: NYPD

Updated Thursday, July 30, 1:44pm: Patrick Zephir, 33, was arrested at his girlfriend’s home in Martinsburg, West Virginia Tuesday morning for the murder of neighbor Raphael Kurton, 27, who was fatally shot on Newkirk Avenue and E. 17th Street in May, according to a spokesman for the 70th Precinct and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Zephir, who police said had lived in an apartment building on Newkirk Avenue and E. 19th Street before fleeing the state, was apprehended by an NYPD warrant squad and numerous other law enforcement officials, including members of the U.S. Marshals Service, West Virginia State Police, the Shepherdstown Police Department, the Martinsburg Police Department, the Marshals New York/New Jersey Fugitive Task Force, and others, according to a press statement from the U.S. Marshals Service.

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Marshals Mountain State Fugitive Task Force became aware that Zephir was in the area after being contacted by the New York/New Jersey Fugitive Task Force, and law enforcement officials discovered Zephir was living with a girlfriend in the 400 block of South Kentucky Avenue in Martinsburg, West Virginia — the site where Zephir was arrested in the early morning hours of July 28.

Zephir was charged as a fugitive from justice and remains in the Eastern Regional Jail, the U.S. Marshals Service said. He is due in court in West Virginia on Monday, the Brooklyn DA’s office told us this afternoon, after which the U.S. Marshals Service said he is expected to be extradited to New York.

Kurton, who lived on Ocean Avenue between Newkirk and Foster Avenues, was shot in the torso around Newkirk Avenue and E. 17th Street and was found lying unconscious in front of 1710 Newkirk Avenue, an apartment building between E. 17th and E. 18th Streets, on the evening of May 26, police said. The neighbor was rushed to the Kings County Hospital, where he died.

Kurton’s death was the first of two murders that happened around Newkirk and E. 17th Street this summer; neighbor Adetunju Ajakaye was fatally shot while sitting in a car at the intersection on July 15.

We will continue to update this story with any new information.