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Edilberto Miguel Palaez Moctezuma was eating in an Arch Street home in Norristown when he was shot by Kevon Clarke, 19, who was wanted Friday on murder charges, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Norristown Acting Police Chief Todd Dillon said.
Norristown police were called to the home around 9:30 p.m. Nov. 25, where Palaez Moctezuma was found with a gunshot wound to his torso, Dillon and Steele said.
He was flown to Penn Presbyterian, where he was pronounced dead. Palaez Moctezuma was sitting at the table eating dinner when a single shot came through the window and struck him, police said.
An investigation found that the shooting was connected to a dispute that happened at a Thanksgiving dinner party at the 100 block of Haws Avenue earlier in the day, where four individuals including Clarke and his girlfriend Jacqueline Brown were asked to leave, police said.
Following their departure, alcohol was discovered missing, and Brown was texted about the theft by her cousin, who had also been at the party, Steele and Dillon said.
Arrangements were made to return the alcohol outside of Clarke’s residence on Basin Street, turning it over to the cousin. The cousin double-parked her car outside the residence, saw Clarke exit the home brandishing a gun and quickly drove off, police said.
She heard multiple shots fired as she fled. Clarke then called her on her cellphone, shouting, “You trying to set me up, you could have got me (expletive) killed,” and then threatened to “bang up your crib,” which the cousin took to mean shoot into her home, authorities said.
Detectives found seven projectiles in the area of Basin and Arch Streets, as well as one live round. The investigation found through the use of two different surveillance videos and analysis of the bullet hole in the window that the shot fired into the Arch Street residence killing Pelaez Moctezuma came from Clarke’s shooting location, police said.
Two other men can be seen in the surveillance video running from the shooting scene. The investigation into this homicide is continuing.
An autopsy was performed on Nov. 26, 2021 by Forensic Pathologist Dr. Hannah Kastenbaum with the Philadelphia Coroner’s Office, which found that the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the torso and the manner of death was homicide.
An arrest warrant for Clarke charges him with First-Degree Murder, Third-Degree Murder, Person Not to Possess a Firearm, Carrying a Firearm without a License, Recklessly Endangering Another Person and Possessing an Instrument of Crime.
Clarke is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs approximately 150 pounds. He is to be considered armed and dangerous. If you see him, call 911.
Anyone with information regarding this incident, the other two shooters involved or Clarke’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Norristown Police Department at 610-270-0977 or call the Montgomery County Detectives’ Tip Line at 610-278-DOIT (3638).
Anonymous text tips can be submitted using MontcoCrimeTips on the STOPit! app. The STOPit! app can be downloaded for free from the App Store for iPhones or Google Play for Androids, then use code MONTCOPA to get the Montgomery County version of the app.
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